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'  n 


Author: 


Rogers,  Jason 


Title: 


Building  newspaper 
advertising 

Place: 

New  York 

Date: 

1919 


T 


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COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DIVISION 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


MASTER   NEGATIVE   # 


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Rogers,  Jason. 

Building  newspaper  advertising,  selling  the  by-product^ 
of  the  newspaper,  printed  salesmanship;  managemenf^ 
and  organization  of  the  selling  force— development  of  L 
new  lines  of  business,  by  Jason  Kogers  ...     New  York  | 
and  London,  Harper  &  brothers,  1919. 

8  p.  1.,  t3]-550  p.    front.,  ])lates  (part  fold.)  ports.,  map,  fold.  tab.    21i"".  I 


l.^Advertising.       i.  Title,    ii.  Title :  Newspaper  advertising. 


Library  of  Congress 
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Columbia  ?Hnitiersiitp 


LIBRARY 


School  of  Business 


r 


( 


STANLEY   CLAGUE 

Manager,  Audit  Bureau  of  Circulations.     A  man  who  is  giving  his  best  to  the  cause 

of  advertising. 


V^utlding  Newspaper 
rs^dvertistng 

Selling  the  By-Product  of 

the  Newspaper^  Printed 

Salesmanship 

Management  and  Organization 
of  the  Selling  Force— Develop- 
ment o/'New  Lines  of  Business 


hy  Jason  Rogers 

Author  of  ''Newspaper  building 


,»» 


New  York   and   London 

Harper   &    Brothers 

m-  c '  m-  X '  i-  X 


U^tx^u^ 


'2't  -1,  ^10  I 


Books  by 
JASON  ROGERS 

BUILDING   NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 
NEWSPAPER  BUILDING 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK 
Established   1817 


-D  153 


Copyright.  1919,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

Published  April,  1919 


D-T 


CHAPTER 
I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 


X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 


Contents 


Foreword 


PAGE 

zi 


PART  I 


The  Chaos  Out  of  Which  Modern  Advertising 

Grew 

Some  Freaks  and  Oddities  of  Early  Advertising 

The  Advent  of  Heavy  Display 

Advertising  from  the  Newspaper  Viewpoint 
Co-operation  Often  Discouraged  by  Advertiser 
Appearance  of  the  Advertising  Agent       .     .    . 
The  Coming  of  the  Special  Representative 
Ineffective  National  Advertising  Mediums  .    . 
Advertising  an  American  Product     .... 


3 

14 

27 

33 
37 
44 
50 

54 
61 


PART  II 

Best  Type  of  Man  for  Advertising  Manager  .  67 

Relation  of  Manager  to  Rest  of  Force  ...  76 

Handling  the   Soliciting  Force 81 

Demonstration  of  Paper's  Pulling  Power     .     .  85 

Consideration  of  Advertising  Rates      ....  89 

Making  the  Rate  Card      ....  ^.     ...     .  95 

Fallacious  Special  Editions loi 

Scheme  Advertising  Ineffective 105 

Political  Advertising uq 

Table  for  Determining  Size  of  Paper  .    .    .    .  117 

Some  Office  Forms  and  Records 124 

Definite  Proved  Circulation 131 

Office  Conferences 137 


CHAPTER 
XXIII. 

XXIV. 


CONTENTS 

How  TO  Increase  Advertising  Rates 
Sources  of  Inspiration 


PAGE 

141 
145 


PART  III 

XXV.  The  Solicitor  of  Early  Days 149 

XXVI.  Vital  Thoughts  for  Would-be  Solicitors      .    .  153 

XXVII.  The  Peacemaking  Solicitor 158 

XXVIII.  Wiles  of  the  Space-buyer      ........  162 

XXIX.  Silence  More  Deadly  Than  Attack       ....  165 

XXX.  Weak  Spot  in  the  Armor  of  the  Dominant  News- 

paper    169 

XXXI.  Consideration  of  Sales  Methods i73H^ 

XXXII.  Meeting  Unreasonable  Requests 178  ^ 

XXXIII.  Local  Advertising  Experience 182 

XXXIV.  Shifting  Shopping  Centers 195 


XXXV. 

XXXVI 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 

XLII. 

XLIII. 

XLIV. 


XLV. 
XLVI. 

XLVII. 

XLVIII. 


PART  IF 

Selling  Advertising  Plus  Results      ....  201 

Reaching  the  Distant  Manufacturer     .    .    .  206 

Making  New  Local  Advertising 211 

Selling  the  Newspapers  by  States     .    .    .    .  216 

Map  Scheme  for  Selling  Extra  Space    .    .    .  233 

Building  Up  the  Classified 235 

Plan  for  National  Newspaper  Organization.  250 

Proof  That  Co-operative  Effort  Will  Pay    .  262 

Intensifying  Reader  Interest  in  Advertising  276 

Local  Development. — J.  Bernard  Lyon  .    .    .  292 


PJRT  V 

The  Pioneer  Special  Representatives  .  .  .  297 
The  "Special"  a  Constructive  Force. — John 

B.  Woodward 304 

Service  Rendered   the    Newspaper. — Dan  A. 

Carroll 308 

Foreign  Business  at  Home. — John  E.  O'Mara  314 


CHAPTER 

XLIX. 

L. 

LI. 


LII. 


LIII. 

LIV. 

LV. 

LVI. 

LVII. 

LVIII. 

LIX. 
LX. 


LXI. 

LXII. 


LXIII. 
LXIV. 
LXV. 

LXVI. 

LXVII. 

LXVIII. 
LXIX. 

LXX. 


CONTENTS 

Why  the  Special? — G.  Logan  Payne  .  .  . 
Mutual  Confidence  the  Keynote. — R.  E.  Ward 
Assisting  Space-buyers. — Charles  H.  Eddy 


PAGE 

318 

324 
328  ^ 


PART   VI 

New  Sort  of  Co-operation  with  Advertising 
Agencies  and  Words  of  Advice  from  No- 
table Agents        333 

The  Advanced  Agency  Service  of  To-day. — 

Robert  Tinsman 338  Ni 

Co-operation. — Stanley  Resor 343 

Effective  Co-operation. — Paul  Faust     .    ,    .    354 
The  National  Agency. — H.  K.  McCann      .    .    376^ 
The  Vital  Things. — John  Lee    Mahin   .    .    .    382  r 
Cost  of  Space  in  Newspaper  Campaigns. — Wil- 
liam H.  Rankin 388 

Some  Ideals. — S.  Wilbur  Corman 400 

Making  Newspaper  Space  Pay. — Wilbur  D. 
Nesbit,  Vice-President  Wm.  H.  Rankin 
Company,  Chicago  and  New  York  .  .  .  412 
Improved  Solicitation. — Richard  A.  Foley  .  417 
Relations  Between  Agencies  and  Newspapers. 
— W.  B.  Somerset,  of  A.  McKim,  Limited, 
Montreal 426-J! 

PART  VII 

Advertising  Brilliants 435 

Henry  Ford  the  Super  Advertiser     ....    437 
Advertising    an    Unknown    Want.  —  W.    R. 

Hotchkin 443 

Barnum    as    an    Advertising    Writer. — Bert 

Moses 451 

Superiority  of  the  Newspaper  as  an  Advertis- 
ing Medium.— Thomas  E.  Dockrell  .    .     .    459 
The  Time  Element  in  Advertising.— J.  F.  Jacobs    471 
Efficient   Newspaper   Advertising.— Herbert 

CaSSON 485 

SELiyiNG  Costs.— J.  Geoi^ge  Frederici^     ,    .    .    493 


CHAPTER 

LXXI. 

LXXII. 

LXXIII. 

LXXIV. 

LXXV. 
LXXVI. 
LXXVII. 
LXXVIII. 


CONTENTS 

Proclamation  and  Persuasion     .    .    .    f    .    .  496 

Killing  the  Beginner  in  Advertising  ...  514 
The  Law  of  Repetition.— Thomas  E.    Dock- 

^ELL 320 

The   Ten   Commandments   of   Salesmanship.— 

Dr.  Frank  Crane C23 

Successful  Advertising.— George  C.  Sherman  526 

Why  the  Salesman  Fell  Down 528 

Elbert  Hubbard  on  Advertising 530 

Conclusion      ....                                        '  r-,. 
534 


APPENDIX 


Appendix  A.— Table  of  Newspapers  by  States 
with  Circulation,  by  Harry  Pruden    . 

Appendix  B.— Who  Was  the  First  Advertis- 
ing Agent? _  » 


545 


Illustrations 


Stanley  Clague Frontispiece 

An  Ad.  of  George  Washington  in  The  Maryland  and 

the  Baltimore  Advertiser,  of  August  20,  1773,  now 

The  Baltimore  American Facing  p.      4 

Advertisements  of  R.  H.  Macy  in  the  New  York  Times 

during  1861 *•         10 

A  NewYork  Herald  Composite  Letter  Page  in  the  '80's  "  14 
Department-store   Advertising   in   the    New    York 

Herald  in  1855 *•         16 

Department-store  Advertising  from  the  New  York 

Times  of  1861 **         16 

A  Sample  Column  Ad.  of  Bonner's  Ledger  in  1861  .  "  20 
Another  Bonner  Ad.  Showing  How  He  Advertised 

the  Goods  Back  IN  THE '6o's **        20 

Types  of  Barnum  Ads.  in  the  '6o's "         26 

Circulation  and  Advertising  Rates  of  2,166  Dailies 

Summarized  by  States *♦         58 

Harry  Milholland •«         68 

Arthur  Freeman '*         76 

A.  G.  Newmyer *«         82 

Fleming  Newbold "         90 

Reproduction  of  the  Rate  Card  of  the  Hartford 

Times ♦*  gg 

Second  Page   of  the   Rate   Card   of   the   Hartford 

Times ♦«  ng 

Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin,  and  Washington  Evening 

and  Sunday  Star  Rate  Card "         96 

Reproduction   of  the   Rate   Card  of  the   Chicago 

Daily  News "         96 


^fm 


Facing  p.  loo 
"       io6 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

New  Standardized  Rate  Card  {New  York  Globe)  as 
Adopted  by  the  American  Advertising  Agents' 
Association       

Harry  J.  Grant ...!!. 

Lines  of  Dry  Goods  Advertising  in  New  York 
Newspapers 

Localized  National  Advertising 

"The  Gilt  Edge  Newspapers" 

Map  of  Alabama,  Showing  Towns  in  Which  News- 
papers Are  Published 

Map  of  Lake  Michigan,  Showing  How  It  Was  Used 

FOR  Advertising  Exploitation       «« 

Harry  Doorly 

John  B.  Woodward 

John  E.  O'Mara ** 

G.  Logan  Payne '41 

R.  E.  Ward ........ 

Charles  H.  Eddy 

First-prize  Ad.  of  the  New  York  Globe's  Advertising 

Agency  Competition p^„g    -- 

^°«f„^.T.NSM_AN ;  ;  Facing  p.  ill 

344 


« 


<  4 


4  4 


4  4 


4  4 


<  4 


44 


128 
214 

236 
304 

314 
318 

324 
328 


Stanley  Resor 

Paul  E.  Faust 

H.  K.  McCann 

John  Lee  Mahin 

Wilbur  D.  Nesbit 

Richard  A.  Foley  

W.  B.  Somerset       

Series  of  Trade-paper  Advertisements  Inserted 
for  the  Purpose  of  Stimulating  Newspapers 
TO  Closer  Co  -  operation  with  Advertising 
Agents 

W.  R.  Hotchkin 


354 
376 
382 
412 
418 
426 


4  4 


44 


430 

444 


Foreword 


Newspaper  advertising  is  without  doubt  the  great- 
est selling  force  which  the  best  modem  business  and 
commercial  efficiency  have  at  their  command.  But 
only  a  very  small  part  of  our  business  men  have  yet 
learned  how  to  use  it  effectively,  although  thousands 
who  do  not  know  *'how"  have  grown  enormously 
through  its  use.  Newspaper  advertising  even  to-day 
is  practically  like  an  untouched  mine  of  wealth  lying 
just  without  the  door,  ready  to  do  wonders  for  any 
business  enterprise.  Intelligently  used,  newspaper 
advertising  can  be  readily  made  to  produce  vastly 
increased  traffic  or  to  influence  public  opinion. 

I  know  these  things  because  I  have  lived,  breathed, 
dreamed,  and  studied  advertising  in  close  proximity 
to  printers  for  over  thirty-seven  years;  I  have  watched 
its  development  from  the  crudities  of  the  late  '70's  to 
its  best  modem  refinements  and  efficiencies.  I  have 
seen  many  wonderful  successes  scored  and  likewise 
many  millions  of  dollars  hopelessly  sunk  in  futile 
and  defectively  constructed  campaigns. 

Not  posing  as  an  advertising  expert  in  any  sense 
of  the  phrase,  my  purpose  in  attempting  to  set  down 
on  paper  my  personal  experiences  in  manufacturing 
advertising,  in  selling  it,  and  making  it  produce  re- 
sults for  the  advertiser,  ig  wholly,  I  hope,  to  give  con- 


r- 


FOREWORD 

structive  help  and  suggestion  to  those  who  are  in- 
c  ined,  by  the  study  of  past  performances,  to  accom- 
phsh  with  efficiency  and  profit  the  tasks  they  are 
called  upon  to  undertake.  To  know  the  pitfalls  is 
to  be  on  guard  against  accident  in  many  situations 
while  to  know  the  Hnes  of  least  resistance  is  useful 
m  developing  plans  for  expansion.  In  this  book  I 
am  actuated  by  the  same  desire  to  be  of  help  to  the 
craft  which  prompted  me  to  write  the  previous  book 
Newspaper  Building,  last  year. 

In  my  experience  I  have  found  that  too  many  busi- 
ness men  view  with  aversion  the  approach  of  adver- 
tising solicitors  from  newspapers  seeking  to  render 
them  a  service,  guarding  themselves  against  any  pos- 
sible  raid  on  the  dollars  in  the  cash-drawer;  too  many 
newspaper  soHcitors  fail  to  understand  and  properly 
explain  the  magic  power  of  the  service  they  can  ren- 
der, and  thus  lose  opportunities  every  day  for  demon- 
strations which  would  multiply  many  times  the 
present  volume  of  advertising  in  the  columns  of  their 
newspapers. 

Whether  or  not  the  recording  of  what  is  to  follow 
wiU  prove  of  value  to  those  vitally  interested  in  ad- 
vertising and  to  those  who  come  fresh  to  the  fray  I 
cannot  foretell  and  must  leave  to  them.  I  am  con- 
fident, however,  that  could  I  have  had  at  my  service 
at  an  earher  period  in  my  Hfe  all  the  experience  since 
acquired,  put  in  get-at-able  form,  I  should  have  gone 
much  farther  than  I  have. 

Newspaper  advertising  in  the  past  has  been  too 
largely  expenmental  and  cumbered  with  too  much 
guesswork  and  lack  of  definition.  All  of  our  modem 
efficiencies  and  refinements  are  but  the  result  of  past 
expenence;  we  are  even  now  only  beginning  to  under- 


FOREWORD 

stand  why  great  successes  are  made  in  some  cases, 
and  why  failures  result  from  the  practice  of  almost 
the  same  methods  in  others. 

We  have  discovered  that,  except  in  peculiar  cases 
requiring  only  a  sale  for  a  short  period,  no  matter  how 
perfect  and  wonderful  the  advertising,  no  lasting  suc- 
cess can  be  produced  unless  the  article  will  repeat  and 
the  whole  selling  and  merchandizing  plan  is  sound. 

Our  great  department  stores  and  specialty  shops 
have  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  courageous 
use  of  advertising  will  produce  double  the  sales  that 
could  be  made  without  its  use.  We  have  proved  that 
it  is  those  large  advertisers  who  have  been  honest  in 
their  advertising,  building  institutional  confidence, 
who  get  greatest  results  per  dollar  for  advertising. 

Henry  Ford's  discovery,  that  the  man  who  can 
supply  a  public  demand  better,  in  larger  quantities, 
and  at  a  Jsmaller  price  than  any  one  else,  commands 
success  if  he  will  make  known  what  he  has  to  offer 
should  provide  the  inspiration  for  those  who  would 
go  farthest  through  advertising.  To  advertise  the 
unusual  for  quality  or  value  will  double  the  results 
which  advertising  the  ordinary  brings. 

The  wonderful  feat  of  the  makers  of  B.  V.  D.  under- 
wear likewise  stands  as  a  monument  to  what  can  be 
done  by  intelligent  advertising.  We  all  wore  under- 
wear before  the  B.  V.  D.  goods  were  known.  Yet 
from  a  standing  start  a  new,  cheap,  serviceable  line 
was  introduced  to  us  all,  until  to-day  people  are  in- 
clined to  call  all  undergarments  B.  V.  D.'s,  and 
through  the  sanitary  suggestions  put  forth  in  the  ad- 
vertising a  large  additional  sale  of  other  lines  of 
underwear  was  created. 

The  great  success  of  houses  like  Marshall  Field  & 


FOREWORD 

Co.,  of  Chicago,  and  B.  Altman  &  Co.,  of  New  York, 
representing  the  very  highest  type  of  desirable  big- 
store  business,  in  contrast  with  the  flamboyant 
splurges  of  Siegel,  Cooper  &  Co.  in  New  York  and 
Chicago,  O'Neill's,  Adams,  Simpson  Crawford,  The 
14th  Street  Store  in  New  York,  ending  in  failure,  is 
proof  that  the  public  in  the  long  run  demands  depend- 
able service  and  cannot  forever  be  exploited. 

It  is  my  purpose  here  merely  to  indicate  the  value 
of  past  sound  experience  shown  by  the  story  of 
successes  and  failures,  in  both  local  and  general 
campaigns,  which  have  come  under  my  observation. 
Success,  either  as  the  result  of  moderate  copy  often 
repeated  or  heavy  dominating  campaigns  of  compara- 
tively short  duration,  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  buyer  and  seller  of  advertising  must  apply  sound 
principles  in  each  case. 

Handicapped  as  it  has  been  by  ignorant  and  dis- 
honest practices  of  many  pretending  to  be  experts, 
newspaper  advertising  has  nevertheless  been  richly 
successful  in  the  main.  Many  of  our  advertising 
idols  of  the  past  have  been  proved  as  false  and  hollow 
as  the  patent-medicine  faker  at  the  circus,  when  we 
view  their  performance  in  the  light  of  best  present- 
day  practices. 

Unscrupulous  advertisers  flimflammed  the  reader 
with  fake  bargain  offerings  until  the  remark,  "Oh, 
that's  just  advertising,"  became  general;  the  mediums 
had  to  clean  house  to  protect  the  industry.  Likewise, 
false  claims  on  the  part  of  solicitors  regarding  circula- 
tion and  ridiculous  promises  regarding  wholly  impossi- 
ble results  killed  off  thousands  of  our  best  prospects. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  things,  newspaper  ad- 
vertising has  grown  better  and  more  effective  from 


FOREWORD 

year  to  year,  until  to-day  it  stands  in  a  class  by  itself 
among  all  other  methods;  to-day  it  can  be  used 
with  absolute  certainty  as  to  results  by  those  who 
know  how  and  are  willing  to  make  the  reasonable 
and  consistent  investment  known  to  be  essential. 

In  this  book  we  shall  consider  various  means  for 
the  stimulation  of  result-producing  advertising,  the 
various  services  that  newspapers  may  render  to  make 
advertising  more  effective  and  productive,  and  how, 
through  more  cordial  co-operation  with  the  adver- 
tising agencies,  we  can  materially  assist  them  in 
developing  a  new  and  vastly  enlarged  volume  of 
business  for  our  columns. 

We  shall  consider  where  the  advertising  agent  fits 
into  the  general  fabric,  how  he  performs  services  for 
the  advertiser  for  which  no  newspaper  is  equipped, 
and  then  study  the  suggestions  of  leaders  in  the  agency 
business  regarding  the  best  modem  service  as  ren- 
dered by  them,  and  how  we  can  best  co-operate. 

The  day  is  gone  by,  never  to  return,  when  it  is 
safe  to  count  on  a  sucker  being  bom  every  minute. 
A  pleased  customer  for  whom  we  secure  steady  re- 
turns is  a  far  greater  asset  than  any  amount  of  busi- 
ness obtained  by  paying  the  heavy  toll  incident  to 
stirring  up  new  crews  to  go  out  and  plunder  the 
unwary. 

Jason  Rogers. 

New  York,  January^  igig. 


\ 


Dull  ding    JN  ewspap 
j\dvertising 


er 


PART  I 


1 


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Hu tiding   JSJ ewspaper 


Kd 


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vertistng 


The  Chaos  Out  oj  Which  Modern  Advertising  Grew 

The  first  advertisement,  according  to  historical 
records,  appeared  in  London  in  1648. 

The  first  American  newspaper.  Public  Occurrences, 
was  printed  in  Boston,  September  25,  1690,  by  R. 
Pierce  for  Benjamin  Harris,  its  editor.  Its  publica- 
tion created  such  a  stir  that  the  legislative  authori- 
ties "strictly  forbade  anything  in  print  without 
license  first  obtained  from  those  appointed  by  the 
government  to  grant  same,'*  so  there  was  no  second 
appearance  of  the  first  paper. 

In  the  beginning,  newspaper  advertising  was  looked 
upon  by  newspaper  editors  as  an  intrusion  upon  the 
space  dedicated  to  the  subscriber.  It  did  not  make 
any  difference  whether  the  reading-matter  they  de- 
sired to  print  was  fresh  news  reports,  lengthy  dis- 
cussions of  uninteresting  subjects,  or  clippings  from 
exchanges;  advertising  was  commerciahsm  from  their 
point  of  view. 

2 


4 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


Early  newspaper  efforts  were  most  of  them  very 
short-lived  because  they  reflected  nothing  more  than 
efforts  of  mere  journeymen  printers  to  make  a  profit 
out  of  printed  gossip  or  to  serve  political  or  other 
special  interests.  These  newspapers  were  frequently 
owned  by  postmasters,  who  had  facilities  in  the  way 
of  transportation  not  possessed  by  others. 

On  April  24,  1704,  John  Campbell,  postmaster  at 
Boston,  issued  the  News-Letter^  printed  sometimes 
on  a  single  sheet,  foolscap  size,  and  oftener  on  a  half- 
sheet,  with  two  columns  on  each  side.  No  sub- 
scription price  was  mentioned.  It  was  *' printed  by 
authority"  and  the  following  was  the  prospectus, 
advertisement  as  Campbell  called  it,  as  it  appeared 
in  the  first  number : 

2Il|f  Nrma-Crttrr  ifi  tn  hr  rontinu^b  Wrrklg; 
anb  all  Jprraottfi  toI|a  lyaur  ang  "^unBtB,  HanJia, 
Qlrnrmrntfi.  JFamta,  0ljt|i0.  BraaiflH,  (ganba. 
MwctB,  tit  Mttt\\wxh\Bt,  ttc.,  t0  br  #oUi,  nx 
Urt ;  0r  drmanta  iRun-amag,  or  (Snnba  ^taie 
or  Unat;  mag  l^wat  Bwaxt  XnBtvtth  at  a  Sraaon- 
ablr  Eatr,  from  g^mrlttp  jpigttf  r  tn  JFtur  ^litlltttga, 
wxh  not  tn  fxrrfb;  Wyn  mag  n^xtt  mitlj  3nl|it 
Campbrll,  pnatmaatrr  at  Inatnn. 
All  J^^ranna  in  OTnmtt  nr  CUnuntrg  mag  Ijau^ 
aaib  Nrma-Urtt^r  ^ urrg  mttk  gparlg  u^inu  r^ a- 
aonablr  t?rma,  agr^^ing  mttlj  3lnl|n  (EampbrlL 
Pnatmaatwr,  fnr  aam^. 

**The  News-Letter  was  the  only  paper  in  existence 
and  had  no  rival  for  upwards  of  fifteen  years,'*  and, 
as  Hudson  put  it  in  his  History  oj  Journalism,  '*it 
did  not  appear  to  have  thrived  abundantly  from  a 


FILMED  AS  BOUND 


II 


I 


)- 


^  S 

^     »-"T3    ttj"*?     JsC     PtS 
^■i-»  jq  J3     rj  "13  V-'  J5  -x3  t2  tS 


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.tij     4> 


An  Ad.  of  George  Washington  in  The  Maryland  and  the  Baltimore  Advertiser  of  August  20,  .773,  now  The  Baltimore  American. 


4> 


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I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING       5 

pecuniary  point  of  view,  not  sufficiently  to  enable  its 
propnetor  to  publish  a  paper  as  he  planned  in  his 
dreams.  Appeals  for  support  were  repeatedly  made 
to  the  pubhc.  There  were  more  readers  than  paying 
subscnbers."  He  admitted  he  had  only  three  hun- 
dred cu-culation,  though  many  thought  he  had  three 
thousand  or  four  thousand. 

In   1 7 19  Campbell  was  removed  from  the  post- 
c^ce.    William  Brooker  was  appointed  in  his  place 
He  started  the  Boston  Gazette,  the  second  regular 
newspaper  in  America. 

Very  eariy  in  the  history  of  our  country,  before  the 
Revolutionary  War,  our  ambitious  editors  realized 
that  a  certain  amount  of  advertising  was  essential  to 
secunty  But  this  advertising  was  as  defective, 
judged  by  modem  standards,  as  the  newspapers. 
Circulations  were  small  and  the  prices  received  for 
advertising  were  seldom  enough  to  care  for  the  cost 
of  pubHcation. 

As  late  as  January  i,  1797,  American  journalism 
was  a  sickly,  poorly  supported  industry.  In  an  an- 
nouncement the  Boston  Gazette  contained  this  over 
the  signature  of  Benjamin  Edes: 

The  aged  Editor  of  the  Gazette  presents  the  compliments  of 
the  Season  to  his  generous  benefactors  and  invites  all  of  those 
who  have  any  demands  on  him  to  call  and  receive  their  dues 
He  likewise  requests  of  his  customers,  who  are  two,  three  and 
more  years  m  debt,  to  discharge  their  arrears,  as  he  finds  it  im- 
possible to  hve  upon  the  wind,  and  promises  equally  uncertain. 
The  former  number  of  subscribers  to  the  Gazette  (in  times  which 
tned  men  s  souls,  and  bodies  too)  were  upwards  of  Two  Thousand- 
nearly  three  fourths  of  which  are  no  more.  But  bein<.  now  re- 
duced to  400,  and  not  advertisements  enough  weekly  to  procure 


6       BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

On  September  17,  1798,  Edes  gave  up  the  task  of 
continuing  the  Boston  Gazette  in  a  farewell  address, 
brimful  of  pathos  and  patriotism,  which  I  reproduce 
in  full  from  Hudson's  History  of  Journalism  as  a 
human  document,  and  so  that  those  of  the  present 
day  may  know  what  hardships  the  pioneers  had  to 
deal  with. 

The  Editor's  Farewell. 

The  Editor  of  the  Boston  Gazette,  after  repeated  attempts  to 
prosecute  his  professional  occupation,  in  the  declining  period  of 
his  life,  IS  at  length  obliged  to  relinquish  his  exertions,  to  which 
misfortune  has  consigned  him. 

While  passing  through  the  gloomy  valley  of  old  age  and  in- 
firmity, his  consolation  stiU  rests  on  that  staff,  which  can  support 
a  mind  conscious  of  its  own  rectitude;  and  though  he  often  feels 
the  thorns  and  briers  on  the  road,  goading  him  in  his  passage 
yet  he  patiently  suffers  under  these  afflictions,  hoping  that  ere 
long  he  shaU  arrive  at  that  peaceful  abode,  "where  the  wearv 
are  at  rest."  '  ^ 

During  upwards  of  43  years  of  hard  labor  in  that  "art  which 
^pports  all  arts,"  he  has  uniformly  attempted  to  vindicate  the 
Rights  of  the  Country.  He  early  made  himself  conspicuous  as 
the  scourge  of  tyrants.  His  press  was  the  asylum  of  the  dis- 
tressed—through that  medium  an  injured  people  could  ever  ex- 
press their  wrongs,  or  plan  measures  for  their  deliverance.  At 
that  afflicting  crisis,  when  America  lay  groaning  under  the  un- 
numerable  tortures  of  a  relentless  nation,  the  Boston  Gazette 
was  employed  as  the  Herald  to  sound  the  alarm  through  the  most 
remote  parts  of  the  Continent. 

The  Patriots  of  our  Country,  at  those  "times  which  tried  men's 
souls  "  were  constantly  assembled  within  the  confines  of  his  office, 
and  their  manuscripts  were  displayed.as  with  a  Telegraph,  in  legi- 
ble characters,  within  the  columns  of  his  periodical  publications. 
Adams,  Hancock,  Warren,  with  a  train  of  co-patriots,  were  his 
chosen  intimates;  under  their  guidance  and  direction,  he  stood 
on  the  Watch  Tower,  and  Uke  'a  faithful  soldier  in  the  cause  of 
freedom,  ever  held  himself  ready,  and  willing,  to  Fall  and  Rise 
m\h  the  Ruin  or  Happiness  of  his  country. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING       7 

But,  alas!  The  cause  of  Liberty  is  not  always  the  channel  of 
preferment  or  pecuniary  reward.  The  little  property  which  he 
acquired  has  long  since  fell  a  sacrifice;  the  paper  evidence  of  his 
service  were  too  powerful  to  be  resisted,  though  he  fed  them  with 
property  at  four  shillings  and  sixpence  in  the  pound,  which  he 
faitnfully  and  industriously  earned  at  twenty  shillings. 

However,  it  is  beneath  a  patriot  to  mourn  his  own  misfortunes. 
The  Independence  of  America  being  obtained,  he  enjoys  the 
pleasing  contemplation,  that  the  same  virtuous  sentiments  which 
led  to  the  acquisition  will  not  cease  to  operate  for  its  continuance 
— That  his  fellow  citizens  will  ever  revere  the  First  Principles 
of  the  Revolution;  and  it  was  his  earnest  prayer  to  Heaven,  that 
the  Rising  Generation  will  remember  the  exertions  of  their  fathers, 
in  opposing  the  lawless  attempts  of  Britain  for  their  subjection. 

Let  the  citizens  of  America  reverance  themselves.  Let  them 
strive  to  maintain  the  Republican  Principles  of  their  own  Con- 
stitution; and  while  practicing  these  duties,  we  may  trust  the 
Guardian  Angel,  which  has  conducted  us  through  dangers,  the 
most  alarming  and  distressing. 

And  now  my  fellow  citizens,  I  bid  you  farewell!  Maintain 
your  virtue — Cherish  your  Liberties — and  may  the  Almighty 
protect  and  defend  you. 

B.  Edes. 
Boston,  September  17,  1798,  and  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  the 
Independence  of  the  Boston  Gazette. 

There  [as  Hudson  puts  it]  at  the  age  of  seventy-five, 
this  over-influential  journalist  passed  from  affluence 
and  big  position,  with  a  few  old  type,  and  an  elderly 
daughter  as  an  assistant,  to  the  attic  of  an  old  wooden 
building  in  Boston,  there  to  eke  out  five  more  years 
of  life  on  a  miserable  pittance  earned  at  a  case  in  a 
small  job  office  in  the  Athens  of  America. 

Casual  examination  of  the  weeklies  published  dur- 
ing the  eighteenth  century  shows, that  advertising 
then  consisted  largely  of  official  notices,  ship-sailings, 
articles  for  sale,  and  rewards,  published  as  standing 
cards  and  devoid  of  interest. 


8       BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Although  this  business  helped  pay  running  ex- 
penses, pay-roUs  and  paper  bills,  editors  of  those  days, 
hke  some  of  the  present  day,  were  still  incHned  to 
regard  advertising  as  an  intrusion  on  their  rights 
which  they  must  resent  as  calculated  to  influence 
their  j  udgment  on  questions  of  the  day. 

The  increasing  volume  of  this  advertising  saved 
the  editor  the  labor  of  filling  the  space  it  occupied, 
but  he  looked  upon  it  as  a  dangerous  perversion  of 
his  art,  and  to  this  day,  left  to  his  own  incHnations, 
the  editor  almost  habitually  discriminates  in  the  treat- 
ment of  news  items  against  the  advertiser.  Anything 
said  regarding  an  advertiser  is  an  ''ax,'*  to  be  dis- 
carded or  buried,  while  he  will  gladly  print  a  similar 
Item  regarding  a  non-advertiser  without  grudging  the 
space. 

Nothing  pleased  the  old-time  editors  so  much  as 
to  prove  their  independence  by  throwing  out  a  mass 
of  advertising  to  make  room  for  news  or  other  reading- 
matter,  and,  strange  to  say,  many  of  them  thought 
they  were  justified  in  such  action,  while  in  reahty 
they  were  only  proving  their  own  inefficiency. 

An  interesting  bit  regarding  the  development  of 
the  weekly  into  the  daily  is  reported  in  Hudson's 
History  of  Journalism  in  connection  with  the  Worces- 
ter (Mass.)  Spy's  celebration  of  its  hundredth  birth- 
day on  July  17,  1870,  as  follows: 

When  the  Spy  was  started,  one  hundred  years  ago,  there  were 
SIX  other  papers  in  Massachusetts,  but  they  all  disappeared  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  The  Boston  News- 
Letter,  the  first  paper  printed  in  America,  might  be  living  now 
if  It  had  not  become  a  malignant  tory  and  fallen  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  royalists,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution. 
Its  first  number  was  printed  in  1704.  For  a  long  time  it  had  no 
competitor;  it  became  strong  and  prosperous;  but  when  the 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING       9 

Revolution  approached  it  took  the  way  to  death,  and,  instead 
of  living  to  hold  its  centennial  celebration  nearly  seventy  years 
ago,  it  died  of  toryism  as  soon  as  the  British  army  left  Boston. 
The  Spy  is  living  yet  because  it  received  life  from  the  ideas  that 
created  the  revolution  and  the  nation,  and  preserved  this  life. 
It  was  established  by  a  patriot  whose  integrity  could  not  be  cor- 
rupted. 

At  that  dinner  ex-Editor  Earle,  "the  founder  of  the  Daily 
Spy,"  made  some  remarks  of  interest  to  newspaper  men  generally 
regarding  the  changing  from  weekly  to  daily. 

The  publication  of  the  Daily  was  begun  in  1845.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  the  city  and  its  business  and  the  commercial  interests 
warranted  such  an  enterprise.  He  had  published  and  edited  the 
Massachusetts  Weekly  Spy  since  1823,  and  during  that  time  it 
had  been  well  supported  by  the  people;  but  when  the  question  of 
a  daily  was  brought  up,  many  discouraging  objections  were  made, 
especially  by  business  men.  On  the  morning  of  July  31,  1845, 
the  first  number  was  issued.  One  reason  urged  by  merchants 
against  starting  the  Daily  v/as  that  the  cost  of  advertising  would 
be  increased.  To  meet  this,  he  adopted  the  policy  of  inserting 
in  the  Daily,  without  charge,  the  advertisements  sent  in  for  the 
Weekly;  and  when  their  customers  came,  inquiring  for  articles 
advertised  in  the  Daily,  they  began  to  see  that  it  was  greatly 
to  their  interest  to  advertise  in  the  Daily.  Then  he  left  out  of 
the  Daily  their  advertisements  sent  for  the  Weekly.  The  result 
was,  that  in  a  short  time,  they  cared  much  less  for  the  Weekly 
than  for  the  Daily. 

The  coming  of  the  daily  newspaper  made  adver- 
tising an  even  greater  necessity  for  successful  pub- 
lication than  it  had  been  for  the  weekHes.  The  daily 
also  gave  advertising  a  flexibility  that  made  it  superior 
to  anything  previously  conceived. 

In  place  of  the  old  stereotyped  routine  "cards," 
called  advertising  in  the  early  days  and  sometimes 
indulged  in  even  to-day,  a  few  wide-awake  merchants 
cashed  in  on  the  new  possibiHties  of  advertising.  r 

Volume  I,  No.  i,  of  the  New  York  Sun  in  1833  | 


n! 


!i 


i| 


lo     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

showed  advertising  rates  of  $30  per  year  for  a  stand- 
ing card.  In  some  cities  the  basis  was  one  inch  space, 
single  column,  while  in  others  the  ten-Hne  "square,'* 
as  it  was  called,  was  the  unit. 
L  ^  Until  about  forty  years  ago  newspapers  made  no 
'  -7  [  intelligent    or   serious    effort    to    secure    advertising 

-)  ^  X  I  through  solicitation,  except  by  political  support  or 
specific  service.  They  would  print  anything  that  was 
offered  at  so  much  per  inch  or  line,  regardless  of 
whether  it  was  dependable  or  not. 

Many  newspapers  did  not  employ  any  advertising 
A  solicitors,  on  the  ground  that  to  ask  for  advertising 
I  was  demeaning.     The  advertising  agents  who  first 
worked  as  the  paid  representatives  of  the  newspapers 
did  the  earliest  work  of  this  kind.     As  late  as  1883 
the  New  York  Herald  did  not  employ  a  solicitor. 
.     The  newspapers  merely  printed  the  ads.   for  so 
much  a  Hne  per  year,  and  apparently  did  not  have 
any  further  interest  in  the  matter,  except  to  see  that 
\  the  bills  were  paid.    Much  as  they  needed  the  money, 
they  still  thought  it  would  weaken  their  position  to 
seem  to  go  after  it. 

There  are  still  a  few  publishers  of  daily  newspapers 
who  adhere  to  these  old  traditions  and  pride  them- 
selves on  not  knowing  or  having  any  contact  with 
advertising  or  advertisers.  These  men  wish  to  de- 
cide all  policies  impersonally  and  think  they  can  do 
so  by  holding  themselves  aloof. 

In  offices  managed  by  such  men  nearly  all  attempts 
to  make  advertising  productive  or  to  render  service 
calculated  to  produce  increased  volume  of  advertising 
are  nipped  in  the  bud  by  active  discouragement  or 
stolid  refusal  to  undertake  anything  new. 

During  the  early  '90's  newspaper  advertising  took 


W 


libTWAHD!    110  r: 

'  Wfstwnrd the  Slnrnf  K-npire  takhitswtiff" 
i^o  does  tljc  Star  of  F.T^hinn  and  <he  <;rac«3 ; 

Ju'lginp.  at  least, by  the  vaalcrovds.  eachdnj',' 
RiuhiugtoMACY'S. 


Broadway  no  longer  tempts  witli  co-tly  gUro, 
With  fancy  shop  fronts,  and  stm  fanokT  pricfS:' 

Chenpn(sit—it^ood  and  tasteful  lor  Uie  fair— 
It  whatenticei. 

Therefore,  we  flad  STXTH-A VKKUE  to  rtoW. 

Daily.  Id  favor  with  all  sects  and  riasses, 
And  not  a  Hroadnay  palace,  people  kooir  i 

MACY'S  8urpiii>t>C8. 

Look  at  hi*  GI-OVES !  while  other  folks  rtsewhert 
Charge  for  their  gl -ye?  a  prire  almost  firtltiout. 

For  SiXTv-TMKEL  Ct.-Jra  MACV  tobea  the  fair 
lo  kids  deliciogs ! 

See  what  a  rich  ass  I'tment,  ti>o,  he  brinps 
01  LiwiNS.  KLoMirxs,  KMnRDinKRiES  and  ticis, 

Bii'DONj.  HCAD-iJ!::i;8$>Ai«<2iI  a  thousand  things 
For  prtity  faces ' 

Either  flock  mo'hero  with  tV-ir  Pets,  and  bermx 
Corao  with  the  ohjo^ts  of  4!j«ir  heartV  dcvotioott 

To  sec  the  ^t•>^lia;,'  «on<:ors  iiAC  Y  sliowa 
In  VANKLE  h;t)T10.\S.. 

Bedeekcd  by  him  the  very  plainest  lam 

Is  Vonns — in  her  beau  s  i[na:;iuation. 
And  yoan;tstei-8,  too— in,  iwMnma  a  eyea— aurpass 

Ail  iu  creation ! 

"  Westwar-i  thf  .Star otFasliion  takes  it«way'" 
That  It  shonliF  poise  ber  MACY'S  is  not  tunny ; 
TiMha'the  -'KLI.SOiOOK.S  EtJUALtoBKOADWAT, 
FOii  M  U CU  LEi?S  MONEY  ! 

R.  H.  MACr, 

«Js.?Tvi  anit  aic  (ith-.ir.. 
Two  doors  from  I4th-st. 


AT  MACY'S. 
EMBROIDERED  L.ACB  CURTAINS/ 

EMBROIDERED  I.ACE  DRAPRRIKS,  by  th«  yard, 

NOTTINGUAM  I,ACE  CUP.TAINS, 
NOTTINGilAU  LACE  DUAPEKIKS.  by  tAeyarJ, 
LAOE  TIDIES.. Ate. 
From  the  CASH  AtJCTION.-^  of  LA.ST  WEEK.atVKRT 
•      U>Vi  PR1CE3. 
R.  H.  MACY, 
Kot.  2(M  and  5HJ  6th-3X .,  two  door*  below  1Ath-st. 


R.   I|.  niACl^ 

All  oolori  and  tiicb.  for  63  centi :  free  by  mall,  n  ct>. 


R.   H.  MACT. 

8ELL8LAD1K9' DOLLAR  KID  OLOVE%, 


Nos.  204  and  20fl  bth-aT. 
Ho  conooction  with  any  other  stoit  In  the  City. 


HAPPY  NEW.YEAR. 

AT  MACY'S. 
ALL  THE  BALANCE  OF  OUR  CHRISTMAS 
TOY.S,  C'HIKA  ORNAMENTS, 
Fancy  Boxes,  now  closing  at  cost  and 
1  ess  than  cost,  to  clear  them  out  by 
New-Year's. 
Every  tody  made  happy  at  MACY'S. 

Full  stock  or  Ribbons,  closing  low. 
Complete  stock  of  French  and  Scotch  EmbmldertM^ 
Bands,  Flouncincrs,  Needle  Work  Hand  kerchieft, 
Points.  Collars,  Guipure  Collars;  Thread  VeUl^ 
Coiffures.  Barbes.  Sleetes,  Capes,  Night- 
Caps.  Dress  Caps.  He;ul  Dres.ses.  Fancy 
Fans.  French  Floircrs,  Ladies'  Made- 
rtp  Under-clothing,  he  ,  closing  at  priCM 
Certain  to  make  everybody  happy. 

Full  stock  of  Gen's'  H^dkerchieb,  plain  and  H«m- 
Stitched  and  colored  Bordered. 

Full  stocjt  of  Hosiery.  (>loves  and  Coder- Wear, 

Spleodid  assortment  of 
Embroidered  Lace  Curtains, 
Embroidered. Lace  for  Curtains,  by  th«  yard, 
Nottingham  Lace  Curtains, 
Nottingham  Laces  for  Curtains,  by  the  yard, 
Tidies.  &c.,  adapted  to  the  New- Year. 

NOW  OPENING; 
1,000  dozen  white,  light  colors,  mode  colore  and  blackf 
,cfour  celebrated  Kid  Gloves,  63  cents  a  pair. 

R  H  MACY 
Nos.  204  and  2M  6tb-ar.,  3d'  door  below'  Mth-it. 


DRY   GOODS. 


CLOAKS   AND   8HAWJL8. 

.     •     E.  S.  MILL.S  A  CO., 

OFFER  TO  CASH  BUYERS  GREAT  BARGAINS  IW 

CLOAKS  AND  SHAWLS,  «^ains  IW 

At  Nos, 342  and  344  BROADWAY. 

R.  H.  MACY,  ~ 

NO.S.  204  AND  206  SIXTH-AV 

^„^     ^^^    OPENING,  • 

FROM  THE   CASH  AUCTIONS. 

FALL     STYLE.S    HAT    KIBBONg 

NEW  EMBROIDElffEl.        *• 

FULL  8T0C^K*^^:.?.Vi^,:^V^li^'^^'n  FLOWERS. 
r.vT^.  ,    HK^r'-nRESSEsl.RICHES  *c  "* 

^.^P.y.?"  *'"'  GERMAN  HOSIERy  and  GLOVES 
LADIES' UNDER-CXOTHING: WHITE  GOOD^^^^ 

HOUSEKEEPING  GOODsI'taRLATAN"?  Jte 
_FCLL  STOCK  YANKEE  NOTIONS  tc 

. ■      ' R-  H.  MACY. 


Advertisements  of  R.  H.  Macy  in  the  New  York  Times  during  1861. 


II 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      ii 

on  many  important  and  radically  new  features.  The 
old  style  standing  ad.  was  dropped  for  ads.  changed 
every  day  and  made  as  full  of  news  interest  as  the 
news  columns  by  the  introduction  of  specific  offerings 
for  sale  on  the  following  day. 

Bamum's  circus  ads.,  Bonner's  Ledger  announce- 
ments, patent-medicine  ads.,  political,  theatrical  no- 
tices, auction  sales,  and  lost-and-found  ads.,  had 
shown  the  way.  People  wondered  why  the  old  Herald, 
containing  all  the  death  notices,  was  read  by  every- 
body. The  reason  was  that  its  ads.  were  as  interest- 
ing as  its  news  matter. 

When  the  new  era  opened  the  brightest  and  most 
alert  reporters  found  a  new  and  profitable  field  for 
their  abiHties.  They,  among  others,  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  advertisers  in  constructing  advertising 
which  was  news,  and  produced  results  beyond  the 
most  sanguine  expectations  of  those  accustomed  to 
standing  cards. 

Old-time  newspaper  rates,  as  previously  stated,  put 
a  premium  on  advertising  which  ran  without  change 
of  copy.  ^  Hand  composition  was  expensive  and  news- 
papers did  not  operate  on  modern  sound  cost  sys- 
tems. The  man  furnishing  a  plate  for  his  ad.  was 
looked  upon  as  yielding  loo  per  cent,  profit.  Many  of 
our  country  papers  still  adhere  to  the  old  practice 
of  charging  one  price  for  set  matter  and  a  much  lower 
one  for  plate  matter. 

As  late  as  1897  in  a  New  England  city  of  some 
importance  a  leading  daily  newspaper  made  a  rate 
of  10  cents  per  line  for  the  first  insertion  of  any  ad., 
with  a  rate  of  2>^  cents  per  line  for  every  subsequent 
insertion  of  the  same  matter.  The  result  was  that 
most  merchants  ran  the  same  copy  for  a  week  or 


/ 


If 


12      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

two  under  the  impression  that  they  were  buying 
space  cheaply.  To-day  it  would  seem  ridiculous  to 
have  a  department-store  sale  with  goods  and  prices 
marked  to  stand  a  whole  week. 

The  early  experimenters  who  discovered  the  magical 
powers  of  newspaper  advertising,  whether  for  the 
sale  of  merchandise,  real  estate,  fake  financial  offer- 
ings, nostrums,  or  anything  else,  reaping  rich  har- 
vests, overdid  the  thing  until  they  brought  themselves 
into  disrepute  or  the  hands  of  the  law. 

A  get-rich-quick  result  was  often  produced  by  ad- 
vertising large  prizes  for  answers  to  puzzles  and  other 
semi-lottery  schemes.  They  would  draw  the  same 
results  to-day,  for  the  mass  of  the  public  would 
rather  spend  their  money  for  a  chance  at  something 
for  nothing  than  keep  it  safely  in  banks,  or  for  articles 
they  needed. 

I  well  remember  the  heavy  advertising  of  so-called 
suburban  lots  during  1892  and  other  years,  at  from 
$50  to  $500  a  lot,  which  unloaded  thousands  of  ght- 
tering  promises  on  the  innocent  but  ignorant  portion 
of  the  pubHc  whose  descendants  are  probably  holding 
the  lots,  which  to-day  represent  but  a  part  of  what 
was  paid  for  them  twenty-five  years  ago. 

Marvelous  as  are  the  results  that  can  be  obtained, 
advertising  has  scarcely  become  an  exact  science, 
known  and  understood  by  any  one  man  who  can 
positively  say  that  for  a  certain  sum  he  can  produce 
definite  returns. 

If  it  were  otherwise,  modem  business  would  cease 
to  be  speculative  and  all  any  fool  would  have  to  do 
to  become  as  rich  as  a  Rockefeller  would  be  to  ad- 
vertise something  and  keep  advertising  it. 

In  the  development  of  the  modem  newspaper  at 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     13 

one  cent  per  copy,  before  the  advance  to  two  cents 
forced  by  war  conditions,  it  became  imperative  to 
develop  new  lines  of  revenue  from  advertising  and  the 
more  progressive  newspapers  sought  to  stimulate 
growth  by  various  devices. 

Meantime  it  was  found  that  a  large  part  of  the 
public  objected  to  offensive  and  fraudulent  advertis- 
ing; that  the  men  in  honest  lines  of  business  hesi- 
tated to  advertise  in  competition  with  frauds  and 
quacks;  and  that  the  newspaper  that  encouraged 
confidence  in  the  good  faith  and  reliability  of  its 
advertising  produced  the  best  results. 

This  opened  new  possibilities  in  all  sorts  of  busi- 
ness through  newspaper  advertising,  only  a  small  part 
of  which  has  yet  been  utilized  to  the  full  extent. 

The  thing  looks  too  good  to  be  true  from  the  stand- 
point of  both  advertiser  and  newspaper  publisher, 
and  only  the  department  stores  and  a  limited  number 
of  retail  shops  have  discovered  the  great  advantages 
of  advertising.  As  for  the  newspapers,  many  of  them 
have  been  too  prone  to  reap  before  the  harvest  was  ripe. 

Later  on  I  shall  analyze  some  of  the  best  ideas 
that  have  been  used  along  lines  of  business  promo- 
tion through  advertising,  and  point  out  the  weakness 
of  our  present-day  newspapers  in  their  relation  to  it. 
In  Newspaper  Building  I  indicated  what  the  New 
York  Globe  has  done  in  such  development  in  food, 
fashion,  and  miscellaneous  advertising. 

The  subject  is  one  which  should  be  carefully  studied 
by  every  ambitious  newspaper  man,  for  by  the  ef- 
fective stimulation  of  advertising  I  am  certain  that 
our  newspapers,  using  sound  co-operative  methods 
with  advertisers  and  advertising  agents,  could  double 
the  volume  of  advertising  in  a  year. 


II 


I 


'/ 


Some  Freaks  and  Oddities  of  Early  Advertising 

As  I  look  back  over  the  scenes  of  my  boyhood  in 
the  newspaper  business,  when  advertising  was  "mere 
advertising"  in  a  crude  and  vulgar  sense,  I  cannot 
but  wonder  that  those  who  then  used  it  for  business 
promotion  secured  profitable  results;  they  did  so  only 
because  it  was  the  best  advertising  they  knew  of.  ^ 

Newspaper  advertising  must  possess  inherent  vir- 
tues that  none  of  us  yet  understand  and  appreciate, 
else  it  could  not  have  been  effective  in  spite  of  obvious 
deficiencies,  ignorance  of  decencies,  and  false  prac- 
tices which  surrounded  it  in  its  inception. 

These  early  advertisements  are  interesting  not 
only  as  curiosities,  but  also  because  all  stores  which 
advertised  as  shown  here  over  half  a  century  ago  are 
still  in  business,  among  the  leading  concerns  of  their 
class  in  the  city  and  in  the  nation,  very  much  larger 
now,  of  course,  than  they  were  at  the  time  they  were 
using  thirty-  and  forty-line  ads. 

In  fifty-seven  years  the  R.  H.  Macy  of  1861,  then 
at  204  and  206  Sixth  Avenue,  has  become  R.  H.  Macy 
&  Co.,  now  at  Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Broadway;  A. 
T.  Stewart  &  Co.,  then  at  Broadway  and  Chambers 
Street,  has  become  John  Wanamaker's  at  Broadway  and 
Tenth  Street,  while  Lord  &  Taylor  then  at  461  to  467 
Broadway,  Arnold  Constable  &  Co.,  then  at  Canal  and 


E     NEW     YORK     HERALD. 


NEW    YORK.   SUNDAY.    JUNE   13.    1880.-OUINTC  PLK    SHEET. 


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BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      15 

Mercer  Streets,  and  others  have  moved  up-town,  some 
first  to  the  Grand  Street  shopping  district,  then  up 
about  Union  Square,  and  later  to  Fifth  Avenue.  ^ 

The  leading  advertising  medium  in  New  York  City 
during  the  'seventies  was  the  New  York  Herald.  A 
fooHsh  and  crippling  regulation  which  it  inflicted  on 
its  advertising  and  rigidly  adhered  to  too  persistently 
and  too  long  proved  its  own  undoing,  providing,  as 
it  did,  the  opportunity  for  Pulitzer  in  1883  to  come 
forward  with  the  New  York  World  with  modem  ideas 
and  eclipse  the  Herald. 

I  refer  to  the  old  Herald  rule  that  all  advertising 
had  to  be  set  in  agate  type,  with  no  display  other 
than  that  which  could  be  produced  by  assembling 
small  agate  caps  in  the  form  of  large  letters,  with 
no  lines  or  borders  except  certain  marks  produced  by 
periods,  hyphens,  and  asterisks.     Here  is  a  sample: 


RRRRR 

H              H 

R           R 

H              H 

R          R 

H              H 

R           R 

H              H 

RRRRR 
R         R 

hHHHh" 

R           R 

H               H 

R             R 

H               H 

R               R  •• 

H              H  . 

R                R.. 

H              H  . 

M 
M 
M 
M 
M 
M 
M 
M 
M 
M 


M 


M 


M 
M      M 
M 


Mm 


M 
M 
M 
M 

M 
M 
M 
M 


A 

A  A 

fA     A 

A       A 

A.   .A 


A  A 


A 
A 
A 
A 


A 
A 
A 
A 


CCCC 
CC 
CC 
C 
C 

c 

c 

CC 
CC 

cccc 


Y  Y 

Y  Y 

Y        Y 

Y     Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y  .. 

Y  .. 


Of  course  no  effective  or  convincing  argument  could 
be  made  attractive  to  the  eye  by  such  typographical 
compositions,  but  the  advertisers  of  that  day  were 
compelled  to  use  the  Herald,  and  they  got  results. 
Another  curiosity  of  that  time  was  the  peculiar  way 
in  which  two  of  the  best  old-time  advertisers  used 
space,  namely,  Robert  Bonner,  of  the  old  New  York 
Ledger,  a  weekly  story  paper,  and  P.  T.  Barnum, 
the  circus  man. 

Bonner  would  take  a  full  page  in  the  Herald  to 

advertise  this  way: 


i6      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


I 


CO  CO 

hi  k 


Pei   P!^    P^ 

03  W  W  W 


o  o  o 

Q  Q  Q 


O 


m  M 
n  pq 
o  o 
Pipi 


w 

o 
"522 


>H>*>. 


w  w  w  c^  c^  oi 
J  J  _j  p  p  o 

^  ^  i^  oi  (/i  c/i 


HUH 

z  2:  2 


Q 


Q 


O 


M  (4  pq 
Z  2  Z 


Q 
d  (^  pii 

:D  t3  t3 


>  ^  > 


PQ  n  PQ 

Q  Q  Q 
www 


< 
C/3  yj  W  CO  CO 

^  (V  H 
X 


XX 


WWW 


CO  CO  /5  /5  ;2; 


CO  CO 

hi  oi 
w  w 


CO  W 


2 

o 


PQ  PQ 

»5  Pti 
W  W 
Pi  PQ 

o  o 

PQ  Pi 


O 
Q 
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Pi 
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w 


Pi  oi 

w  w 

o  o 

Q  Q 


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^  ^p  P  p 
H  H  H 

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>H  >^  w  w  w 

ZZpQpqpQpqpqffl 


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Q  Q  Q 
WWW 


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<  <  < 

P  Q  Q 

Pi  Pi  Pi 

P  t3  t3 

H  H  H 

<:<;-< 

CO  CO  CO 

CO  to  CO 

H  H  H 
Pi  Pi  Pi 
<  <  < 

H  H  H 
XXX 

H  H  H 

WWW 

CO  CO  CO 

Z  ZZ 

CO  CO 

Pi  Pi 
w  w 


Pi 

CO  W 


z 

o 


PQ  PQ 


Pi 


W  W 

PQ  PQ 

O  O 

Pi  Pi 


O 
Q 
W 

O 

w 
z 


Pi  oi 
w  w 

QQ>; 
w  w  g 
J  J  p 

CO 


Pi  Pi 


WW 
Pi  Pi 


o 


WWW 

z  z  z 


Q 


w 
z 

o 


WW 

Z  Z  PQ  pq  «  pq 


CO  CO 

^^ 

w  w 
z  z 

I— (   ►'^ 


►J 
z 


PQ  PQ 


< 

Q 

Pi  Pi  (^ 

t3  t3  & 


PQ  PQ 


Q  Q  Q 
WWW 

zzz 


e^  c/3  CO  CO  CO 

^  ^  H  H  H 
XXX 
WWW 

CO  CO  Z  Z  Z 


Pi 


Pi 


CO  CO  CO 

Pi  Pi  0^ 

www 

zzz 

ZZZ 

oo  o 

PQ  PQ  pq 

H  f-  H 
Pi  Pi  Pi 
WWW 
pq  pa  PQ 
"  O  O 


Pi  Pi 
W  W 

o  o 

Q  Q 
W  W 
-J  -J 

WW 

Pi  Pi 
o  o  . 

>H     >H     >4 


Pi  »; 


o 


WWW 
ZZZ 


Q 


k^  CO  CO  CO 

Pi 
o 


w  w 


www 
z  z 


z 


< 

Q 

Pi  Pi  Pi 
&  D  D 

H 

< 


<: 


^  -  ^  CO  CO  CO  ^  "^  CO 


o  o  o 


)— I   ►— I   K*" 


PiPiPiZZZPQpqpqpQ 


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<  < 


Q  Q  Q 

W  W  W  ^ 

Z  Zi  Z  V2  ^  CO  Z 


XXX 
WWW 

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iKtr  csooDS,  AC. 

«1(tA  l\(\(\  STOCK  or  DRY  00OD8.  AU.  MEW— 

decant  piua  ccuteihl  «u:lla  itliAwU. 
G«utii  lr«TeUiiij; -■JiAvrL'*.  clieap. 
Bicb  autoMTri  t^-dm  Umms. 
Finr  4-1  mil  Fi^iic^  pnnvs. 
Wilsh  BwimIj  3-  i,"f  4  auit  8-<  wide. 
RediwillednAL-iniukHitf  fjaimel,  (a  b^wthinfX 
S'&M^^inierrfl  for  ^ys  &r>J  meo.  frooi  4s.  to  %l. 
i^tbs  for  )*di««*  &iul  cco'lemeo'  awear. 
iNilmcih  and  je&itforaJ  kiniLt. 

Lictn  hjiDdAcocluers.  t'oo'l.  at  Co.,  fis«J«.,  TenrfiaalLM. 
G«nts'  ds.,  b!i!xl«ri"it  at  «».  lo  X  pttfUitn.  ^^ 
Pnnf?  lor  romittfiabTes.  by  tbt  piece  or  case,  6c 
Preacb  meriuiK's  as  Irjw  as  7a  aad  up  to  lOa. 
Paramatlaii  tA  tivery  kiod,  color  and  ((U&litj. 
Au  exc^ilfp:  ttji4ornn':ut  ot  liocn  go^dj. 
7owfl4,  cupluDs.  diap«n>,  Ac,  by  ibe  QuantUr* 
Table  oJoUm,  SI  ie,  ooce  sold  al  «t 
rniiioslic  cods  bv  the  yird.  piece  or  bale. 
£vvry  artjclf  uarked  in  pIuLa  tij;urefl,  prioeL&l&xetf. 
Ihe  Boirery  Savings  Store.  l*i  Bowery. 
*'.  W.  k  W.  P.  GDLLBT. 


*"!  n  (\(\(\  WORTH  OF  RTOnVALEXCIEXWBSHCESr 
«Px  V  •WU'«ttu5c<cinioiilT low  prices,  beiutr  tbe  late  por- 
cliMee  of  Mr.  Jta)>er1ii  »  bOe  is  t:urop<> ;  jiut  received. 

PETEB  ItOBEBTS  A  CO.,  T,i  Broadirar. 

rqo  BBOADWAT— MANUFACTORKR'S  DEPOT  OP 
tJi/yJ  Brussels  aud  cbaoiUly  lacrii.  Tbe  agent  has  reeeired 
a  iarjre  assortment  of  the  above  rich  lacex.  ready  to  be  o'Terod 
at  retail.  J VL£S  DELCKOIX,  996  Broadway,  sear  Mutrops- 
lilan  Hotel 

AKOTHER  NEW  STYLE  OF  MOUENINQ  COLLAR  AVW 
sleeves,  BAILEY,  KARRINUTON  A  LESLIE,  ti-^  Uroid- 
way,  received  per^teamer  Paeific,  au  entirely  new  materl&l  of 
their  own  design,  for  moumiDg  seta  which  they  will  oUer  on. 
Uooday,  October  g,  in  collars  and  sleeves  of  their  own  slrle^, 
which  are  en'irely  Dew.  The  tnaterial  and  style  arc  someOunJc 
never  before  seea,  and  eaiuot  be  found  at  any  other  bouse  ia 
the  city.  • 

AT  THE  STORE  OF  PETER  ROBERTS  k  CO.,  375  BROAD- 
way.  tvti;  be  fotind  the  large'-t  and  most  varied  stock  of 
lace  i-oods  ever  offered  in  this  market  by  any  one  Orm.  Maor 
of  the  ftyV«  are  entirely  new  and  never  before  !;hown  here, 
Tbe  above  extensive  a.-tisortment  ha.^  been  selected  with  tuuoll 
care  by  Mr.  Bobert.s  while  in  Europe. 

BCLPIH'S  SHAWLS.— JUST  RECEIVBD.  DIRECT 
from  the  nuuufaeturei^  iu  Pariti,  Lyons  auti  Ylcaoa,  six 
cases  of  superb  .cashmere  and  French  camel's  hair  loog 
aliawls.  Imported  ezpreaaly  for  Hroadwav  retail  tnde— all  iS 
Duderaie  prices.  OEO.  UU1J>1N.  ;i«l  Broadway. 

Bt'LPIN,  XI  BKO^UJWAT,  WILL  OPEN  Tir(«  WEKK. 
In  all,  ta-entv  caAcs  of  Hietla,  Broche  and  other  shawls, 
tbo  whole  of  whlcb  he  will  sell  at  moderate  pricea,  and  I* 
which  public  atlcaUoa  ia  invited. 

BULPIN'8  CLOAKS  AND  MANTILL^AS.-THI:  LAOIKS 
of  New  York,  and  the  I'mUfd  Stales  generaUv,  are  r»- 
apcctfuUv  InJonoodthat  BDLPIVS  store  ia  uow  replete  wiijj 
the  tuual  variety  of  fall  and  winter  fAahiooa  in  sioaks  and  maa> 
lillas,  sod  which,  in  coosequence  of  Lis  va;'.i!v  increasing  trade, 
be  can  uifer  at  prices  liltberto  onheard  of  tor  lirst  class  ara- 
cles.    Paris  Maniilla  £Bq>orium,  3ul  Broadway. 

pLOAKS.    CLOAKS,    CLOAKS  1 


\J    Ladies  in  purst'it  of  an  elegant  cloak  will 
KOd  most  auparb  stotk  m  the  eitv  at 

MOLYNEOX  BELL'S.  98 


find  Qx  largest 
Canal  street. 


CURTAIN  DAMASKci,  LACE  AND  MCSLIN  CURTAINS, 
window  cornice.",  bands,  pins,  loops,  Ac.',  ol  the  newest, 
richest  and  bett  styles,  at  wholesale  or  retail,  by  CHI LDS  i 
gMlIH,  448  Peail  s.-eet.  corner  ol  William. 

DRY  GOODS  FROM  Ari;TlON.-2,(X»  YARDS  ALL 
wooldeUlne.  at:^.  tid.,  wortb4s.  6d.;  d^bege,  la.;  curlalA 
mualins.  St  Is.  to  6s.,  lace  curuUna,  elegant  curtain  daTnuks, 
black  and  colored  silks,  piirametias,  inermoes.  Frencb  cloiha; 
too  French  corsets,  at  <.)s. ;  Baunels.  blttriket*.  shawls,  ,tc. 

THOMAS  TATE,  86  C<inal  tlreet,  comer  ol  Orcene. 


E 


NOLISH  AND  AMFJtICAy  OIL  CLOTHS. 
Full  assortment  of  wtdih.*,  desi^tis  and  prices  at 

LORD  A  TaYLOB'!*,  iii,  itJ7.  299  and  itil  Grand  it. 

EUREKA  I    EUREKA  I— FORD'S    EITREKA    RRIRT    IS 
unlveraally  worn  bv  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  ala« 
by  the  ariftocracy,  geouT,  mercbititji,   Lradedmen,  and  peot>Hl 

fenerallv  of  Europe,  tlie  BrlUsb  colonies,  Intlia  and  Cbtna.  Ac. 
etoc  niinvalleo  tor  its  snpcrjorily  ot  ut,  work,  patti;."a.  anil 
durabLlry.  Mo.mfactured  and  sold  only  by  W.  1.  FORD,  43. 
Brocdway.    ithlrts  and  coUars  nude  to  order. 

ELFOANT  DISPLAY  OF  CARPETI.VGS. 
Includiug  the  very  late^^t  European  de^igiu  of 
KuYAL  Veltet.  Tart-'tTar,  iisu^SEUi, 

I^CIla!^.-  SKBTaRKZ-rLTH;  AUV).  R.  VEtTET 

a.«o  AisiiaoiiB  MKUAiuoa'i, 
AU  of  wbiek  will  be  srM  .It 

RKM  »«KABLr  "LOW  PKICr^. 

TX>RD  A  TAVXun,  299,  ttf,  'JW  and  261  Grwnd  iL 

ECO^O.MY  IN  CARPETS. 
Auburn,  Lowell,  sud  low  priced  earpellngs  of  every  dai- 
criptivti.    At8<\  dru;;:e'a  mattinf.>.  .tc,  Ac.,  Ac. 

lAjRD  A  Li^LiiH,  2JJ,  i;ft;,:»Viuid;:»lGr«ndsL 


FALL  AND  wnnra  fashiovs. 
The  atienllas  of  connoisaeurs.  and  those  who  »!•  Biiltok 
Jjriy  aniious  of  po^ae^alng  .-»  neat  and  beautUul  fabric  o!  a™. 
tr.euical  proportions  and   artinic  it-nish,   ara  respeclfullv  !» 
^       '°,^     °*  ""  "^^  "'  •"""-'Pasaed  milUiMrT  and  -""^ 

^uuiOJis'  Fsuca  iiaussKY  Eicroiinrv. 
_^ •**  Bro«dwv. 

FIVE  HUNDRED  STELLA   SOAWLS-AT  St'fio    fit 
and  4.14— all  ei,tirely  new  in  style  jajd  oeiorine— on  aala 
Ih.s  weeii  at  BlLPlK'i.  SCI  Broadway.         """"ng— on  «l» 


MOSAIC  AND  TAPESTRY  RDG8. 
An  ismenee  variety  of  entirely  new'  and  baantifiil  im<. 
terns  at  -.  —  r*"*- 

LORD  t  TAYLOB'S.  258,  2S7,  a»«ad  an  Grand  »1 

MOLTNEUX  SELL'S  FALL  GARMKNT^.— 
Fine  gray  cloth  lalmaf,  trimried  Steele  moire  antlatie  gtl- 
Icocs— jijs'  the  IblDg  for  the  p.e8e;it  season. 

lieavy  French  beaver  cloth  talmas,  trimmed  with  velrel, 
aid  the  tir)!e>t  assortment  of  veivei  Lilmas,  alapted  to  U 
'■^,r'  "^"'-  '^*D  •»  found  in  the  city,  and  at  prices  to  suit  tbe 
tui!!ii'n.    tS  canal  street. 

■V"0TIC2.— NKW  DRE.SS  GOODS, 

•^V  *■  C^.oiK^  .l>n  MAaTtI4«43.  . 

Auotwo,<base^drUiciUbi<«»Kie     TKT^ 

.Ma!«teux  CisToa, 
RerelTed  by  the  pacitir,  will  be  opened  on  Titeadav 
J'rS.  A.  T.  SfEWART  A  CO. 
Broadway, Chambeis and  Ueade  si 


N 


EW  FALL  GOODS. 

;  Cpbolaiorr,  Cnrtatn  tnaterlals, 

and 

French  paper  hangtnita. 

60L0M0N  A  H ARr, 

No.  243  Broadway, 

are  oow   receivinjc 

•  full  supply  of  fall  goodi, 

aujtable  for 

Curtains.  Kurnliore  CoTtrlnt, 

and  Interior  decoration, 

whidi  thev  offer 

wholesale  and  retaQ 

tspon  the  moat  favorable  termfl. 

To  whlcb  thev  invite  tbe  atteotloaof  tk* 

•  trabe  and  rOBLiC. 
Store  closed  on  Sainrdaya. 


"VTOTICE.-LADIES  CETTISG  NBW  FALL  DRESSK8.  DT 

X  V  Older  to  insure  a  ittxHl  fit,  should  procure  a  pair  of  Mrs. 
t.nynor'a  celebrated  and  elegant  Qiucg  French  woTeooraetaL 
Hei  prices  are  only  half  usually  chiTjied.  GATNOR,  tBHxaw 
tcr  01  ooraeM  and  embroideries,  ii  Turd  aveniM,  nwr  Tgalk 

"•■r;ci. ^ 

ONE  THOUSASD  BROCHE  DOUBLS  SHAWLS— PBIO» 
$16  nnd  iS}6  each;  the  cheapest  and  moat  deairabla  atewft 
in  the  city— all  beautiful  colorlng»-4r«  now  on  sal*  at 
BULPIN'8,  aa  Broadwiy. 

PARIS  EXPOSITION  PHAWLS.-THE  SUBSCRTL 
baa  just  received  from  hia  Freivih  amenta  a  eaao  of  v_« 
beautiful  broche  long  shawl.s  exact  coplea  of  thoae  otnr  m^ 
hinted  at  the  Palau  d'Induatrie  In  Paris,  at  very  modanM 
price;.  GEORGE  BULPIN,  361  Bnwdwvj. 

POPULAR  TRADE.— 
_  A.  T.  STEWART  t  CO. 

trai  open,  on  Monday,  Ocuiber  8, 

A  Isr^e  lot  of  extra  rieb^ 
EROC^ni:,  BxitirEn  asd  Sanx  Vimd  Silei, 
in  rohes,  at  tU9  each,  (original  coat  fnm  940  k>  S5D,)  pia^ 
chafed  in  Paris,  at  >  great  aaciilice,  and  recelvad  by  r«ce^ 
fbteamers. 
Broadway,  Chamkers  and  Beade 


^- 


ICH  PARIS  DRESS  TRLMMl.N'GS  ANO  MILLfXEBT 
V  iroods. — I  bare  much  iileaaure  in  atmovincfng  to  m^. 
iend.«,  that  1  hAve  purcbaxia  at  the  late  auctionafrom  -Ih* 

isil'.reaoftv.o  Frencli  boiues,  a  very  heivy  quanUiy  of  f 

Lt..;cestriMioti?.  uiillmery  ^ooda,  dresa  and  doak  trimmiik. 

ever  eshibi-.ed  in  this  country,  and  that  we  wUl  dispute 

liiem  at  tbe  smallest  advance  oo  auction  prices. 

M.  H.  LICHTENSTBrN, 
.....  ^  Gowerv,  oomtr  Heater  aireeC 

r.a-6tore  doted  every  SaturtJay.  <»wairo». 

QHAWLSl  SHAWL.S  ■ !  SHAWLSI ;  l-LADUES  IX  SEARCTt 

O    of  real!)  pretty  snd  u^hionnble  atella  shawls,  at  modanta 
prices,  will  find  them  at  UULPtiS  S,  361  Broadway. 

TO  MANUFACTURERS  A*D  OTHERS.— THB  ADTEIU 
t  Mr.  having  oo  hind  a  large  a.ssor*ment  of  old  and  new 
Fsmples  of  dry  goods,  foreign  manufacture,  would  be  wilu^ 
to  dispose  of  same.  They  embrace  a  great  Tarlety  ol  very  aav 
di-sli^n^.  To  a  manufacuirer,  or  a  party  in  the  tkabit  of  geW^r 
up  new  atyles,  they  woukl  prove  an  invaluable  ptuelaM.  I^r 
particulars  and  iuspecUoo  of  Ibe  lot,  address  U.  B..  box  IM 
Uerakl  office.  ^^ 

IrpUK  SALE  OF  CHEAP 
IX  ri.iiD  AHD  ?Tnirui  Sou, 

At  66  ccnt^  per  vard. 
And  tbe  Exnu  Rich  Wibb  Dim 
-^t  It  per  yard, 
Will  conliBue  during  the  week. 

A.  T.  STEWART  *  OO. 
Broadway.  Chamber* and  Reade 


WHALEBONE  SKIRTS  OF  IMPROVED  PATTKUIS 
for  ladies  and  girls,  together  tviiji  crioolin*,  macMMa' 
Stitched,  corded,  hair  cloji,  moreen,  Cunton  Oaanel,  Ac-  tori 
Mie  or  made  to  order,  and  a  complete  assortment  of  fa'^ti**"  I 
Walencicnnes,  Mecklin,  and  Guipure  latas. 
E.  THOMAS,  706  Bro^Jwmr. 


Department-Store  Advertising  in  the  New   York  Herald  in  1855. 


or  ITEXr  DESCRIfTION.  8(rv1CCaBLX 
*ND  CHEAP. 
^^    ALSO,  ROOSE-rCltXISillNa  SOOIW.  . 
VDITAIK   MATtUALS.    WINDOW  SSADES.  OM 

lOcn,  CAKTwntio,  siuclutus.  Kvaa, 
»*.,»€.,  AT  TtKT  LOW  rucnt  * 

U«0  «  TATLOII. 

HW'w  u  m  >«OADWAT. 

"•»  w  u  »i  OKANo-rr.- 

Wm  «T  «»<  «1  CATBAIIlK».t% 
UIUMrorLINS,  PAKIM  UKUUltM^'' 
rUNTEO  TKLOORS.  KCJ^ 
OELAINCS  »a4 
rASRJOMABLI  DRtsa  MOD' 

■   LOID  *  TaTLOH'S. 

Km.  Ml  u  Ml  IROAOWAr. 
Mm.  a«  m  w  ORAJ(D-sr. 
Km.  «  a»4  m  CATRaRIIII-M> 
.  .   .■.■■.^-.  ,  ■■  ..  — • 


N£W  PALL  UUKan  »ILK». 

BIOBUT  STYLKi  or  TBI  SKAMJI, 
JOSTRtCtlVID. 

ALSO,  Low-rsicEO  aiLCa; 

;i(t«Al>0  DESIItABLI.  IN  ORiAT  TAURT. 
LORD  k  TAYLOR. 

Nm.  Ml  u  tfl  BROAD  VAT, 
NM.at  to  Itl  ORANO-n. 

Nm.  «T«»4  MCAriKRIWl-BH 

iI.4l>lK()>  A.ND  CUILOKE.<l>»  IXOTatjiji 

IM  THIS  DirARTHINT  OF  OUR  BIOBLi; 

Mm.  mi  to  mi  BROADWAT, 

•Mak  k  ■■«»  Ike  okcUm  If 

I,UI1E8  OF  AOHITTEO  0000  TAfTA 

••rB*kaa<tU  Ika  mMtruwrHua  gtuM  4tte 
■  III  111     ■ 


LAOII*.  CmLOREir,  AND  INTAimk 
AlTCaiMMaaUifrkM.   ONm  r»>»U  J  MU*4l4  to 

_^ LORD  >  TAYUnt. 

.VAItmiOMABLK  CLOAK*  AND  saAW&4 

MOST  CLXOANT  ASSORTMUt  OT 

TBI  SEASON. 

LOW  PRlcn.  AT  RETAO, 

UOD  A  TAYLOR. 

Mm.  Ml  toMI  BROADWAT. 
Mm.  W  to  W  ORAND-BT. 
Mm  «  Mid  M  CATHARInm 
KSAL  INDIA  CAIULtf  HAIlt 
.  SHAWLS  AND  SCARTi. 
>yjlOLO.  CONBTABLC  *  Ca 
;  WUI  tfm  Ikalr  ttU 

MOXDaY,  Sw  m. 

flat  (Mil  ten  iMm  irarckAMA  lari^  tk(  |NMB 

BiniMUlAtoMiWMAftM.  •aAwUltaoianSMa** 


tnum 


yA.scv  niLiia, 
AT  nrrr  cihts  ria  yaBw. 


«fM«l 

VOIta 


fLAlDi  AMD  STBIR* 
I 
MONDAY,  S>l(.» 
AMNOLD.  C0NSTA4LS  k  OA. 
rtfM< 


CLOAKS  AMD  »HAWA.a. 

I.  S.  KILLI  k  CO.. 

onn  TO  CASH  BVYtR!)  ouat  baioaimi  is 

CLOASSANO  SHAWLS. 
At  Km  M»«^  IM  klfflADWAT. 


A  CAitO. 


W.  iACISON,  N*.  HI  Bn^wr.  ImtIx  pmvlMMS  • 
l*rg*  IM  af  Hi^liMliiM  M  M8i«  »rMM.  lA  tgtria^  iMa 
M  r«Ull  M  tMi  lltMi  eoM  iT  iMPoruitoa. 

AIM.  Btoak  aaA  SMMd  M«vkiki  SUkt,  to  mtf  iM* 
■WA  AMilt/.M  ••HMulljr  low  »ctM«.tu««(Wr  vlik  ftwM 

h4  jmnl iMiii  if  <Mlnw«  llnrai<«  jnH 

A — .  -^,«||  ui^  («(cat.  ^^,  vkick  kfl  M  •ivr-' 

•  Ikui  kalr  M«l  vr  iMpnftaUM.    SyMlal 
»B|--^-" 


■^  SlikA  u  to.  ud  •■  >tr  /hA. 
,  LMArtor  of  ^iMratac  rptU. 
'. U^era  S»f^ AkflPrlM*^ 


•■A  JIAMAi  I 

mSSiSma 


dAriAK  UK  iMAftt-  lAAk.  vkick  kt  lA  rftrlii 
J««  Ikaa  >Alr  MAI  AT  itopnftaUM.     SAAdAl  V 

koAllAAtoBlAAkr '' 

•   JACKSON,  I 
kHI  BrMAVAr.l 


B     •OUTILLIKR     BIlATHBRS    Bi 

~    laa>aMlA4«AMA«M  i&  MtaettAf  NKW  OR 


— •**^'"^.     ALSO. 

AM  IMMRNSt  ASSORTIIEST  AT  SRAmA 
I*  nMMu  n/lM  AM  M  ikA  li(;)T  qi' ALITI  ts 

N«.  JM  Ca«a|.«1..  aAai  1maAw|#.  . 

r'OBVAIN  MATERIA Li«.  _ 

^       wu>CAT.L.,Anv£rora5t*™* 

KSLTY'S,  MA.a(>nM«M< 


zj'i»sK<?5'v«iAVsf3is."  iSi^rjSZ 

■ail  WAntod  ArtktaA,  -ilflim  talUM.  kMBaal 
•Mil  VAM^hMr  (AAdA.  Ma.  lUA  BnM»Aj,  M«<M 
Stok  AM  yfc  Ite..  >!a«>  AbA.MrWiS.AWA  BaMI.         ' 


•AAtAfltod  toOAll. 

fasB 


JOLUNEBY. 


DRY  GOODS. 

BAIaHOKAIa  8aiHT8  At*D  HOOPS 

Of  «Tei7klBd.atlowpi1oef,  Aurliig  tbeHoUdAjt. 

L6RD  k  TAYLOR. 

Nob.  Ul  to  MT  BrMdwBjr. 

Mob.  26S  to  Ml  Graod-it 

. NoB.4T»nd«CtthRriD»-il, 


O0R  ENTIRE  STOCK  OF  CLOAKS. 
piCLVDING  BlAACaClAC^U  AND 

■"^  VELVET  CLOAKS  in  fre^t  Tkriety,  will  be  offered  <» 
HONDA T.  Dec.  30,  wUl  be  conllriued,  and  darinc  Um 
HoUdajf. 

BELOW  COSTIII 
AJwfe  lot  af  FANCY  CLOTH  CLOAKS,  Uth*  foUow 
log  lowpricea: 
HO  FkDcy  Cloth  CJoaks  at  $2,  formerly  $< 
aw  FaiM)7  Ctoth  Oioak«  at  $3  30,  forioerly  $«. 
MO  Faucy. Clolh  Cloaks  at*7,  fcrmerlj  »18. 
,100  Fancy  Ctoth  Cloaks  at  $«,  formerly  $20. 
M  Fancj  CKxh  CJoaks  at  SM,  ftirmetly  $25. 
ALSO, 
Om  e«M  RICH  EMBROIDERED  VELVET  CLOAKS 
lAd  ihort  SAQUKS,  ofUie  prcTaUiaf  ParU  ityl««.fr 
celved  per  steamer  Buropa, 

8DITABLK  FOR  HOLIDAY  PRESENTS, 
will  b«  Bold  at  lees  than  the  coat  of  importation,  owing  to 
Qm  adTBuced  season. 

LORD  k  TAYLOR,. 
Not.  Ml  t4>«67  BROADWAY. 
Kos.  26&to2ei  ORAND-ST. 
^  NoB.47and49CATHARINE-8T. 

PARIS  KID  GLOVES  AT  »2)4  CKNTS. 
titifi  DOZSN  liADIKH'  PARI8  KID 

"  GLOVES 

MTAILKD  AT  62)6  CE.Vts  PER  PAIR. 

LORD  k  TAYLOR. 
Nob.  461  to«67  BRC/DWAY. 


RICH  PARIS  DKESS   SiLKS, 
QCITABLB  FQR.PKO;)tE?«ADB, 

•^DDfNER,  CARRIAGE  and  EVENING  DRESSE& 
TSRY  CHOICE   STYLES-CHEAP  I 
LORD  *  TAYLOR. 
NM.  Ml  to  4fiT  BROADWAT. 
NdBw  26S  to  261  GRAND-ST. 
Nofc47aDd4»CATHARlNE-ST. 


G 


GENTLEMEN'S  TIES,  SCARFS,  HDKF3., 
>I.0YB8,  HOSIBRT,  SILK  AND 

WOOL  DRAWERS,  &c,kc 
IaAROE  ASSORTMENT-CHEAPI 

LORD  *  TAYLOR. 
Nob.  4«1  to  t«7  BROADWAt 

Nos.  2S5to26l  ORAND-ST- 
I*os.  47  and  iif  CATHARINE-8T. 


EMBROIDERXF/S  FOR  THE  HOUDAYS, 
[N  SETS,  COLIaAR.9,  HANbkEUCHI£B8» 

''  CAPS.  WAISTS,  *«'.,  Ac 

Alio,  low-prked  and 

RICH  LACES  IN  GREAT  VARIETY. 
LORD  k  TAYLOR. 
Noi.  461  to  4«7  BROADWAY. 
Nos.  266  lo  9C1  GRAND-8T. 
Nob  47  M)a  49  OATpAKINE-ST. 


TARLETONS  FOR  EVENING  DRESSES. 
CPANOIaBO,  EIUBKOlOBItBD  AND 

'^PLAIN.at  one-tbiwl 

THE  COST  OP  IMPORTATION, 

LORD  A  TAYLOR. 
Nob.  461  to  467  BROADWAY. 

FASHIONABLE    DKKSS  GOPDS. 

AN  IM MBNSB  ASSOIITMBNT  AT 
low  yr>c«B. 

POR  BOLIDAY  PRESENTS. 

LORD  A  TAYLOR, 
Ko*.  4<1  to  467  BROADWAT. 
.    Nob.  256  to  261  GRAND-St.* 
XOB.  47  and  49  CATBARINE-ST. 


Department-store  Advertising  from  the  New  York  Times  of  1861. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      17 

A  strong  feature  of  such  advertising  was  that,  % 
whether  it  occupied  a  full  column  or  a  full  page,  it  | 
created  a  sensation  by  the  mere  fact  that  any  one  k 
would  spend  so  much  money  for  an  advertisement.  { 
No  one  had  done  this  before,  so  Bonner,  by    taking 
a  page  for  an  announcement  or  for  the  publication 
of  the  opening  chapters  of  a  new  serial,  amazed  the 
town  and  so  got  its  attention.     Needless  to  say,  he 
was  a  great  believer  in  pubHcity  and  had  courage  to 
use  it  far  in  advance  of  his  time,  but  he  rigidly  re- 
fused to  sell  any  of  the  space  in  his  own  publication. 

He  decided  to  give  the  people  articles  and  stories 
written  by  famous  people  and  to  advertise  these 
specialties  more  largely  than  anything  had  ever 
been  advertised  before.  Naturally  he  made  a  great 
success. 

At  first  he  would  buy  a  full  column  to  annoimce  the 
contents  of  his  paper,  an  almost  unheard-of  use  of 
advertising  space.  Then  he  would  use  half  a  page, 
then  a  full  page,  and  finally  all  the  advertising  space 
a  newspaper  would  sell  him,  which  in  itself  created 
so  much  talk  throughout  New  York  and  the  coimtry 
that  his  advertising  was  doubly  effective. 

As  Bennett  of  the  Herald  would  allow  no  display, 
Bonner  ordered  his  ads.  **run  in,"  giving  one  sentence 
announcing  a  story  which  was  repeated  throughout 
a  full  column.  This  also  made  a  lot  of  talk.  He  is 
said  to  have  spent  $27,000  for  one  week's  advertising 
and  over  $150,000  in  a  single  year,  which  was  an 
enormous  sum  in  those  days.  He  even  paid  the 
Herald  $2,000  for  a  single  advertisement. 

When  this  advertisement  was  printed  the  pastor  of 
the  church  which  Bonner  attended  is  reported  to  have 
become  very  much  agitated,  says  Hudson's  History  of 


! 


0 


( (' 


(( 


18     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Journalism.      Upon  looking  over  the  Herald  at  the 
breakfa^-table  he  said  to  his  wife: 

*'I  must  call  upon  Mr.  Bonner  immediately  after 
breakfast;  I  am  really  anxious  about  him." 
Why,  what  is  the  matter?  Is  he  sick?" 
I  don't  know  that  he  is  sick,"  repHed  the  kind- 
hearted  clergyman,  "but  I  think  he  must  be  insane. 
Just  look  at  the  Herald;  it  is  Bonner  on  every  page. 
If  he  has  paid  for  that  he  will  be  ruined.  Give  me 
my  hat." 

Mr.  Bonner  was  surprised  at  an  early  call  from  his 
spiritual  adviser. 

*'I  have  called,"  said  the  clergyman,  **to  talk  to 
you  about  the  advertisement,  or,  rather,  series  of 
advertisements  which  appeared  in  the  Herald  this 
morning.  May  I  ask  if  you  paid  the  regular  rate 
for  them?" 

"I  gave  my  check  for  two  thousand  dollars  for  a 
single  insertion,"  answered  Bonner. 

The  clergyman,  with  a  deep  sigh,  wiped  his  fore- 
head with  his  handkerchief,  remarking:  **Two  thou- 
sand dollars!    Two  thousand  dollars!" 

After  a  moment's  reflection,  as  if  overcome  by  the 
magnitude  of  the  sum  thus  recklessly  thrown  away,  he 
said: 

**Mr.  Bonner,  I  have  called  upon  you  as  a  friend. 
You  know  that  I  am  one.  I  felt  that  there  was  some- 
thing wrong.  What  a  waste  of  money!  Two  thou- 
sand dollars  for  one  advertisement  in  one  publication ! 
Would  not  a  single  square  like  this,  for  instance," 
pointing  out  a  ten-line  advertisement — "would  not 
that,  at  a  cost  of  a  few  dollars,  have  answered  your 
purpose  as  well  as  all  that  display  and  costly  space?" 

Much  amused  at   the  perplexity  of  his  amiable 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     19 

pastor,  Mr.  Bonner  replied:  "I  see  how  it  strikes  you, 
my  good  friend.  But  if  I  had  put  in  the  single  square 
you  mention,  would  you  have  taken  the  trouble  to 
call  upon  me  to  remonstrate?" 

"Why,  no!  I  don't  think  I  should  have  noticed 
the  matter  at  all!" 

"Then,"  said  Mr.  Bonner,  triumphantly,  "you  have 
demonstrated  the  correctness  of  my  policy.  Every 
other  reader  of  The  Herald  is  as  much  astonished  as 
you  are.     This  is  the  secret  of  advertising.   Eureka!" 

One  of  Bonner's  ideas  was  to  get  the  three  best- 
known  editors  of  the  daily  press  in  New  York 

Bennett,  Greeley,  and  Raymond— to  write  for  The 
Ledger,  The  public  was  astonished  to  learn  through 
an  advertisement  in  all  the  papers  what  he  had 
done. 

Then  he  induced  twelve  distinguished  clergymen 
to  write  twelve  stories.  Afterward  he  obtained  twelve 
contributions  from  college  presidents.  "Norwood," 
a  novel  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  costing  $20,000,  had 
a  famous  run.  "The  Life  of  General  Grant,"  by  his 
father,  Jesse  Grant,  not  only  sold  thousands  of  copies 
of  the  Ledger,  but  obtained  many  votes  for  the  general 
for  the  Presidency. 

Bonner  was  a  courageous  pioneer.  He  kept  doing 
things  and  advertising  them  so  that  nearly  anything 
he  did  was  advertising,  which  made  more  readers  for 
The  Ledger,  He  paid  large  sums  for  the  sort  of  read- 
ing-matter his  imagination  led  him  to  believe  the 
people  would  buy. 

One  day  when  asked  whether  he  kept  Dexter,  the 
most  famous  race-horse  in  the  world,  and  an  expensive 
stable,  and  did  all  the  remarkable  things  he  did  in  The 
Ledger  for  advertising  purposes,  he  replied: 


ML. 


20     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

**I  never  engaged  a  writer  or  bought  anything  or 
did  anything  as  an  advertisement.  What  I  have  done 
has  been  natural  to  me  and  because  I  wanted  to  do 
it,  but  never  was  the  impelling  motive  the  notoriety 
that  was  likely  to  follow.  When  I  want  advertise- 
ments I  pay  for  them  as  advertisements." 

Whether  this  was  true  or  not,  he  got  results,  and 
stands  as  a  unique  figure  in  American  advertising. 

Bamum  was  another  great  advertiser  of  that  time, 
besides  being  the  first  really  shrewd  free-publicity 
grafter.  His  press  agent,  Tody  Hamilton,  created  a 
style  for  the  Bamum  advertising  which  was  as  unique 
as  it  was  effective.  Alliteration  and  exaggerated 
statements  played  the  leading  part  in  his  copy,  which 
was  printed  in  advance  of  the  show  all  over  the 
country. 

Hamilton  had  a  way  of  doing  things  which  would 
not  be  tolerated  to-day  that  made  town  talk.  For 
example,  during  the  week  previous  to  the  opening  of 
the  show  a  story  would  get  out  that  one  of  Bamum 's 
wild  beasts  had  escaped,  and  every  mother  would  keep 
her  children  close  at  home  until  the  danger  had  been 
removed. 

His  exploitation  of  the  ** sacred  white  elephant," 
the  '* dog-faced  boy,"  and  a  long  chain  of  other 
features,  heralded  by  columns  of  advertising  and 
free  publicity,  reached  the  people,  and  induced 
them  to  pay  millions  of  dollars  for  admission  to 
his  show. 

In  this  connection  I  remember  an  odd  experience, 
showing  how  Tody  Hamilton  sought  to  break  down 
The  Herald's  rule  regarding  display.  He  tried  to  get 
that  paper  to  set  up  a  huge  figure  of  an  elephant 
composed   of   the   letters  ** Bamum,"  one-sixth   the 


A'* 


OUKUNAL   LKTTEK  OF  LOUlJii  NA* 


POLEON   IN  TO-DAY'S  LEDCEB.-Oatsid«    of  oar 
iiomtcty  there  is  no  other  person  whose  opinion  anddU*' 
position  in  regard  to  onr  Soathern  rohellion  are  so  fa* 
portant,  in  our  own  estimation  and  that  of  the  world,  m 

Louis  Napoleon's.   So  far  as  his^declarations  go,  he  seems 
to  be  inclined  to  let  us  alooe,  and  that  Is  all  w«  ask  o' 
him.   Hot  only  have  we  his  disavowal  of  any  f  nlentloa  to 
Intermeddle  with  oar  affairs,  recently  addressed  to  the 
French  Chamber  of  Der«tles,  bat  Ito-day  Mr.  Bonner 
places  before  tht  readers  of  tb«  Lii>o»  a  copy  of  an  aa> 
tograph  letter,  which  has  not  preriously  been  published, 
writtenby  Louis  Napoleon  to  tha  Hon.  Edward  Everetl* 
and  which  has  been  procured  expreesi/  for  the  Lioaia. 
This  letter  will  be  read  with  the  deepest  interest  at  the 
present  time,  and  ererybody  will  be  gratified  by  (he 
friendly  feeling  which  it  expresses..  Tho.  Liik»b  will  be 
ready  at  12  o'clock  to^ay,  (Monday.)  and  for  sale  at  all  tho 
book  stores  and  news  d^p6ts. 

A  Sample  Column  Ad.  of  Bonner's  Ledger  in  1861. 


rf'.''.y*'!i"''T*  ■rKKHOU.-A  ^vWsTi<ilv~u7 


qnHE  WIUTK  TKMin»i;._,    V  E  IT  S  r  i  nV?7- 


.1  irt  n  t  P L  V.  ,„ihor  «f  •■  IbJ  M  y»l  riou.  lilrrXj?? 


I  T'"-  >*'>f,??*^  TKKROK.-AXKW  STORY 
IS^-ril'M  '>.>t.:'o-d«>lM^«M)jy)»eUo-clo,|| 


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•1    HWiilM  PUy,.intl...ror"  The  My  l.  rioui  UjiriaiKi." 

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rr*ly  ,1,  ihr  I,KIm;kK  i»  rfiy  (»^<«/^yl»t  ".••rllvll. 

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re.Tlyiiif|lel.Eni-.EHl»d-.yiMondi>'»tlio*lo^tT 
Til***  WHITE  TEKUOIl.-.v  NEW  sf.TSvrB 
rai.ly  Imhe  LEIKJKR  to-day  ( Moiidiy)  .,t  II  o  rk rkT^ 

1  Vi,,  DLl'tlY   l.|thoror  ••  The  ITTlKrlooj  M.rriai.,' 
riJ.ly  luthe  Lfe.t)(;KRl.)-dajr  (Moud«yU(  IJo'cloci, 

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-'- L'^i'llLl^-"  ">^-iy  iXondiy)  n  I.'  oclocb. 

THE  n'HITKTEIlKOK  -A  Nr.W  STORV  11^ 
■Ii».  DUri'V.  Author  ..f  ••  ;hi-  MyitcriouiMarrlve." 
rf  ilyiothel.KDfiLHto-djy  (Mocdnyi  .-u  lindocb 

T!.'>  XY.HITKTKKUHK  1-A  NKWSMRY    BV 
Mm  Dim  Y.  author  of  "  The  Myelenoas  Mirril  -e." 
nadyin  lh»l,Er>GEIl  :o-ljy  (Mi  oday .  »l  l;:oc1>rk 

T"«  WHITE  TF.KUOH.-A  NKW  SIORY  BYI 
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TIIK  WHITE  T E IC l(0 hTIX  V E W  3T0 rTb 9 
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ffaily  ID  the  l.KUGI'  K  lo-d.iy  (M«o.layl  at  12oclo<-k 

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re»dy  intbe  LKDOKR  l.ilay  (Monday)  at  i:!oclo^k 

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U  .J  IlUI'UY.  a'lih.  r  of  ••  Tbe  Myiterlous  Marriane' 
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T^a.lyiiilheLEC)(.KRto-.l:iy(M)iidaylat  lie  clock. 

ri\IIE  WHITE  rEKi(OK.-A  yy.W  SrOKV  B? 
rp^.dy  inthe  LH>CKK  lo-day  (^<..iid.ivi  at  Ijoclork. 

THE  WHITE  TE"ui£Ot;.-v  Nr.W  STORY  HY 
M  •■•DI,'i'lV..iuihorf.f  "T'     Vy-erionj  Marriice/' 
ready  ig  '.be  LF.fx.i;!!  lod.vyCV.i::  l.yjat  12  orloik. 

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»''~  IiUPl' Y.  authir  of-  The  M  F<leri«u<  Marmxe ." 
r.a.iy  in  IU«  LKnOKK  tv<iy  iMopiLiy )  at  li  oclo.k 

THK  WHITE  riiHiiOji.-AShvrsTonyTaY 
M,  (  nUl  IJY,  inrhcrof  •■  Tbe  VyLiioub  Marrtace." 
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^.lMDl■pl'Y,»uthorof-  The   Vy,t(risu«  Marrlagf.'^ 
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TH e'wihtetkkko.'.-*  ve*  story,  bv 
Mis»lPUI'liY.aiilht.ro("  The  M»stinoai  llarrla«e." 
ready  in  the  LEfOtR  toViylMon'iayi  at  Uocloci 

THE  wiiiTKTr.ln{o;t.-A  Nr w .story,  bt 
Mi-;«  III  fl'^.  author  of  The  Myderoaj  Uarrlue.-' 
r.»ly  in  the  I  EDiibK  :.)-<lay  iJIoenUylat  12  e clock. 

M  »,<,in  I  I  Y.  ^iih.iror"  Ibr  »ly5tcri.-aj  Marrijie," 
r-»dy  lolbc  I.Kf^f.EK  to-d.iy  (MonJay  at  rit'elaek 

THE  WIUT£VEI:I;O.I.-a  k.-.w"story.  p.r 
M'-ni.  PI  F\anthM  of  •  The  Vyterlca*  Marf l«f <• 
ryady  in  the  l.KPf.KK  u>-day   Moi^uy  at   lloclock^     • 

»piiK  WHITE ri.uRou.-A  sv.w  .storV7b7 

■  Mi««)ill'(  y.  author  of  ■  1  he  M^sfervoa  MaiTiaa*,** 
umIh  iu  be  I  KDfcCRte-4ay  Illcii4a>|  at  I3«<ihwkr 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      21 

space  up  and  down  being  occupied  by  each  of  the 
letters. 

The  Herald,  in  accordance  with  its  then  independent 
policy,  decHned  to  set  up  the  ad.  Hamilton  came 
over  to  me  in  the  old  Sunday  Mercury  office  and  asked 
me  to  set  it  up  and  lend  him  the  type.  We  did  the 
job,  and  he  took  it  over  to  the  Herald  office,  but  it 
was  refused  on  the  ground  that  all  Herald  ads.  must 
be  set  up  in  the  Herald  office. 

Only  a  few  men  of  this  type  live  in  a  generation. 
In  ours,  Tom  Lipton  to  a  limited  extent  and  Henry 
Ford  as  a  shining  Hght,  are  among  those  who  under- 
stand the  wonderful  possibilities  of  advertising  and 
have  the  courage  to  use  it.  Yet  any  one  with  the 
goods,  the  know  how,  and  the  courage  can  win  fame 
and  fortune  by  buying  the  commodity  we  sell — news- 
paper advertising. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  nearly  all  the  great 
enduring  successes  in  advertising  were  built  up  by 
the  use  of  newspaper  circulations  much  lower  than 
can  now  be  bought  for  about  half  the  price  paid  for 
the  smaller  ones.  Until  the  coming  of  the  high-speed 
perfecting  press  in  the  'eighties,  anything  Hke  our 
present  daily  newspaper  production  was  an  utter 
impossibility. 

In  my  boyhood  we  printed  from  flat  sheets  fed  into 
a  huge  central  drum,  first  running  one  side  through 
and  then  the  other.  We  got  better  printing,  but  no 
speed.  Then  came  the  perfecting  press  delivering 
flat  sheets,  and  then  the  folder  delivering  the  paper 
printed,  packed,  folded,  and  counted  with  an  accuracy 
and  speed  never  previously  thought  possible. 

The  advertiser  has  derived  most  benefit  from  the 
great  improvements  in  mechanical  production,   for 


Another  Bonner  Ad.  Showing  How  He  Advertised  the  Goods 

Back  in  the  '6o's. 


I 


1 

I 


22      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

he  can  buy  his  space  to-day  in  papers  of  over  200,000 
circulation  for  less  than  was  charged  by  those  of 
50,000  or  60,000  in  the  'eighties.  Competition  among 
newspapers  and  foolish  efforts  to  lead  in  volume  of 
advertising  carried  have  provided  great  opportuni- 
ties for  the  ruthless  space-buyer. 

To  indicate  the  progress  of  newspaper  circulation 
in  New  York  City,  I  have  made  a  few  extracts  from 
Hudson's  History  of  Journalism.  In  May,  18 16,  the 
circulation  of  the  New  York  daily  newspapers  was 
as  follows: 


Mercantile  Advertiser. . . .  2,000 

Gazette i>7So 

Evening  Post 1,600 

Commercial  Advertiser.. .  1,200 


Courier 920 

Columbian 825 

National  Advocate 875 


Only  two  of  these  newspapers  still  survive — The 
Globe  and  Commercial  Advertiser  and  The  Evening 
Post;  the  former  established  in  1793  and  the  latter 
in  1801. 

"In  1833,  the  year  The  Sun  was  started,"  says 
Hudson,  '*we  find  that  the  total  number  of  copies  of 
all  papers  printed  in  New  York  City  was  6,000,000 
to  8,000,000  in  that  year.'*  This  meant  a  total  sale 
of  between  20,000  and  28,000  a  day.    Also: 

The  population  of  New  York  in  1835  was  270,089.  The 
population  of  the  United  States  was,  in  round  numbers,  15,000,000. 
Only  one  paper  in  1835  circulated  6,000  copies  daily.  All  the 
others  were  far  below  5,000  and  running  down  to  500. 

In  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  containing  a  popula- 
tion of  300,000,  the  daily  circulation  of  the  penny  papers  is  not 
less  than  70,000.  This  is  nearly  sufficient  to  place  a  newspaper 
in  the  hands  of  every  man  in  the  two  cities,  and  even  of  every 
boy  old  enough  to  read. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      23 
New  York  Papers  in  November,  1842 


Cash  Papers 

Herald — 2  cents 15,000 

Sun — I  cent 20,000 

Aurora — 2  cents 5,000 

Morning  Post — 2  cents. .    3,000 

Plebeian — 2  cents 2,000 

Chronicle — i  cent 5,000 

Tribune — 1>2  cents 9,500 

Union — 2  cents 1,000 

Taller — i  cent 2,000 


Wall  Street  Papers 

Courier  and  Inquirer .. .  7,000 

Journal  of  Commerce. . .  7,500 

Express 6,000 

American 1,800 

Commercial  Advertiser . .  5,000 

Evening  Post 2,500 

Standard 500 


^  In  1847  The  New  York  Tribune,  feeling  proud  of  its 
circulation,  challenged  The  Herald  to  a  shovi^-down  for 
$200  to  go  to  two  orphan  asylums.  On  the  audit 
The  Herald  proved  28,946  to  28,195  for  The  Tribune, 
and  The  Tribune  paid. 

In  185 1  Horace  Greeley  ,intestifying  before  a  com- 
miti££_oLtheJlousejo^  theeffect 

of  the  stamp, ta^_Qa, advertising  in  Great  Britain, 
gave  these  .figures: 

Average  daily  circulation  of  all  New  York  news- 
papers, 130,000,  of  which  60,000  were  circulated  in 
the  city,  which  then  had  700,000  population. 

The  New  York  Sun  had  50,000  circulation.  The 
Herald  25,000. 

Total  circulation  of  daily  newspapers  in  London 
was  then  60,000  a  day. 

The  daily  circulation  of  newspapers  in  the  United 
\  States  was  about  1,000,000,  divided  among  250  daily 
'  newspapers. 

There  were  2,500  journals  pubHshed  in  the  United 
States. 

In  May,  1870,  The  New  York  Sun  inserted  the  fol- 
lowing  advertiseme^nt  in  The  New  York  Herald: 


I 


24     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

'yWO  AND  A  HALF  MILLIONS  A  MONTH. 


I 


I 


THE  NEW  YORK  SUN 

AHEAD  OF  ALL  COMPETITORS. 

The  Circulation  of 

THE  SUN 

is  many  thousands  larger 

than  that  of  any  other  daily  newspaper. 

The  aggregate  daily  editions  of 

THE  SUN 

last  week  were 

SIX  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY-TWO  THOUSAND 

FOUR  HUNDRED 
(622,400) 

The  daily  ciroilation  of  THE  SUN  for  the  four  weeks  of  May 
was  as  follows: 

First  week 611,800 

Second  week 620,100 

Third  week 614,600 

Fourth  week 622,400 

Total  in  four  weeks 2,468,900 

or  nearly  two  millions  and  a  half.  This  is  equal  to  a  daily  average 
of  102,870  (one  hundred  and  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy)  for  the  twenty-four  days  of  publication.  This  simple 
statement  of  facts  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  immense  and  grow- 
ing popularity  of  the  SUN.  It  demonstrates  conclusively  that  the 
Sun  is  no  servant  of  a  clique  or  class,  but 

THE  GREAT  ORGAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

As  such  it  will  continue  to  uphold  with  all  its  might  that  which 
is  good  and  true,  while  it  will  fearlessly  expose  knavery,  corrup- 
tion, and  imbecility  in  high  or  low  places,  wherever  their  practice 
imperils  public  safety  or  private  virtue. 

THE  SUN  IS  THE  BEST  AND  MOvST  READABLE 
NEWSPAPER  published.     Its  news  is  the  freshest,  most  in- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      25 

teresting  and  sprightliest  current,  and  no  expense  is  spared  to 
make  it  just  what  the  great  mass  of  the  people  require. 

As  a  matter  of  information  for  such  as  may  not  be  aware  of 
the  fact,  we  may  mention  that  the  Sun  sheds  its  genial  beams 
upon  all  at  the 

MODEST    PRICE  OF  TWO  CENTS. 

Another  glimpse  of  old-style  advertising  of  news- 
papers is  that  of  The  Weekly  Sun  or  ''Dollar  Sun,'' 
as  it  was  called  in  1869,  as  follows: 

THE  DOLLAR  SUN. 

Chas.  A.  Dana,  Editor. 

The  cheapest,  smartest,  and  best  New  York  newspaper.  Every- 
body likes  it.  Three  editions:  DAILY  $6;  SEMI-WEEKLY 
$2;  and  WEEKLY,  $1  a  year.  ALL  THE  NEWS  at  half  price! 
Full  reports  of  markets,  agriculture.  Farmers'  and  Fruit-growers' 
Clubs,  and  a  complete  story  in  every  Weekly  and  Semi-Weekly 
number.  A  present  of  valuable  plants  and  vines  to  every  sub- 
scriber; inducements  to  canvassers  unsurpassed.  $1000  Life 
Insiirances,  Grand  Pianos,  Mowing  Machines,  Parlor  Organs, 
Sewing  Machines,  etc.,  among  the  premiums.  Specimens  and 
hsts  free.    Send  a  Dollar  and  try  it. 

I.  W.  ENGLAND,  Publisher  Sun,  New  York. 

Through  the  years  from  1870  to,  say,  1900  numerous 
proprietary  medicines  and  a  variety  of  trade-marked 
articles  were  forced  to  enormous  sales  by  the  use  of 
two-,  three-,  and  four-inch  copy,  running  every  other 
day  by  the  year,  but  only  a  few  of  their  proprietors 
have  continued  such  advertising  to  the  present  day. 
^  The  newspapers  made  special  discounts  for  156- 
time  advertisements  of  this  character,  and  found 
them  an  important  source  of  revenue.  That  the 
advertising  was  resultful  was  proved  by  the  enormous 
business  created   by  the  constantly  repeated  copy. 


\ 


26      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

which,  aside  from  causing  large  sales,  made  the 
names  used  familiar  in  every  household  throughout 
the  country. 

Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  the  use  of  big  black 
Gothic  type  and  the  exploitation  of  nostrums  and 
fake  sales,  which  to-day  would  not  be  tolerated  in 
any  self-respecting  newspaper,  seriously  interfered 
with  legitimate  advertising  and  created  the  general 
remark,  **0h!   that  is  just  advertising!" 

Some  of  these  practices,  long  discarded  in  our 
larger  cities,  are  still  in  vogue  among  the  smaller 
newspapers  in  certain  sections  of  the  country.  News- 
papers carrying  such  copy  are  shunned  by  large 
national  advertisers  having  legitimate  goods  to  sell, 
for  no  one  wishes  to  have  his  advertising  topped  by  or 
alongside  of  an  offensive  medical  ad.,  or  seen  in  such 
company. 


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The  Advent  of  Heavy  Display 

Exaggeration  and  false  pretense  thus  marked  the 
first  growth  of  newspaper  advertising,  and  our  news- 
papers, contemplating  only  the  increasing  revenue 
Ignored  all  responsibility  for  what  they  printed  Flash 
one-night-only  sales  of  junk,  quack  medicines,  fraudu- 
lent real  estate,  and  mining  promotions  had  their  day 

The  direct  result  of  this  gross  misuse  of  the  ad- 
vertismg  columns,  which  ran  parallel  with  blatant 
sensationalism   and   black   heads   on   news   articles 
made  it  extremely  difficult  for  legitimate  advertising 
to  be  seen.  ^ 

Money  came  to  the  newspapers  in  chunks,  and  the 
yellow  papers,  with  their  cheap  popularity  contests 
tor  quantity  circulation,  overturned  all  old-time  prac- 
tices, until  the  reputable  and  sound  advertisers  com- 
menced to  take  stock  and,  in  concert  with  readers 
demand  a  change.  * 

Restrictions  directed  against  the  offering  of  quack 
medicines  and  habit-forming  drugs  were  invoked,  and 
the  newspapers  made  for  decent  people  gradually 
ehmmated  first  one  variety  of  offensive  business  and 
then  another,  generally  finding  that  honest  business 
more  than  replaced  the  offensive  business  they  had 
thrown  out. 

All  of  us  who  went  through  the  period  recollect  the 


I 


28      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

vast  number  of  so-called  tonics  and  cures,  composed 
primarily  of  alcohol,  narcotics,  or  other  drugs,  which 
gave  the  ignorant  who  bought  them  a  hard  kick  for 
their  money.  There  were  advertisements  of  abortion 
medicines,  venereal-disease  cures,  consumption  cures, 
and  such  with  vulgar  and  offensive  black  type  and 
nasty  crude  cuts  to  arrest  the  eye  and  mar  the  news- 
paper page.  The  Louisiana  and  other  lotteries  likewise 
appealed  for  the  hard-earned  dollars  of  the  poor. 

I  do  not  say  these  things  for  the  purpose  of  show- 
ing that  the  newspapers  were  depraved  or  soulless, 
but  to  bring  out  in  contrast  the  great  successful  news- 
papers of  the  present  day  which  carry  three  or  four 
times  the  volume  of  advertising  appearing  in  these  old 
days,  free  from  all  offensive  or  fraudulent  announce- 
ments. 

As  shown  by  specimens  of  advertising  during  the 
'8o's  and  early  'go's,  our  newspapers  had  yet  to  come 
into  their  own.  The  use  of  full-page  copy  by  retail 
merchants,  with  occasional  double  trucks,  had  not 
yet  arrived  in  the  East  from  the  Central  West. 

Advertising  rates  were  too  high  in  comparison  with 
circulations  to  make  profitable  such  large  use  of  space 
as  was  being  indulged  in  in  the  smaller  Western  cities, 
where  publishers  fairly  gave  away  their  space  and 
merchants  early  discovered  the  pulling  power  of  real 
advertising. 

With  the  arrival  of  Joseph  Pulitzer  in  the  East, 
with  The  New  York  World,  imbued  with  the  progressive 
Western  spirit  of  his  St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  and  the 
low  rates  made  by  him  to  stimulate  volume  adver- 
tising in  his  New  York  newspaper,  the  trick  was  done, 
and  big  advertising  became  popular  among  the  New 
York  merchants. 


¥ 


i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      29 

The  Herald  had  the  big  business  of  that  day,  having 
had  virtually  a  monopoly  of  it  for  years,  so  Pulitzer 
hired  Bill  Henry,  the  business  manager  of  that  paper, 
who  knew  all  the  New  York  advertisers,  and  told  him 
to  ''get  the  business"  and  to  make  a  rate  "that  would 
get  it."  If  my  memory  serves  me  correctly,  the  rate 
fixed  for  The  World  in  May,  1883,  was  2>^  cents 
per  line. 

At  this  low  price,  merchants  accustomed  to  using 
one  full  column  in  The  Herald  took  larger  space  ir 
The  World  for  less  money  than  they  paid  The  Herald 
but  it  was  not  until  well  into  the  '90 's  that  pages, 
and  double  pages  came  into  vogue.  It  did  not  takq' 
Pulitzer  long,  with  his  yellow-newspaper  methods*,' 
pictures,  and  gift  enterprise,  to  pass  The  Herald  in  cir- 
culation and  to  carry  through  successfully  the  ad- 
vertising campaigns  which  he  created  and  pushed. 

He  stiffened  his  rates  as  his  circulation  increased. 
His  progress  was  rapid  and  for  years  he  held  a  record 
unprecedented  in  New  York  journalism.  From  the 
very  start  he  sold  advertising  on  the  basis  of  proved 
circulation,  with  ''circulation  books  open  to  all," 
while  the  old  Herald  and  other  newspapers  sold  "high- 
water  mark"  and  mere  claims. 

In  the  light  of  later  experience,  Pulitzer  was  a  sure 
winner,  with  the  others  gradually  slipping  back  into 
the  monbund  class,  sooner  or  later  to  go  through  the 
hands  of  sheriff  or  receiver.  The  Pulitzer  type  of 
journalism  at  the  start  was  sensational  enough  to 
appeal  to  thousands  who  had  probably  never  before 
bought  any  newspaper;  but  through  it  all  he  made 
a  real  newspaper. 

^  Pulitzer  had  the   New   York  morning  newspaper 
situation  all  his  own  way  until  1896,  when  WilUam 


I 


f 


30      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

R.  Hearst  landed  in  town  and  bought  the  old  Mornins 
Journal,  which  he  changed  to  The  American  and  by 
similar  and  more  despicable  methods  secured  an  even 

Sd?for 'r'^*'""  *^^  ^"^^"^^  ^^  «°^"S  ^"^^^ 
It  was  a  cruel  race  for  supremacy  between  these 
two  new-type  adventurers  in  yellow  journalism,  but 
incidentally  It  produced  new  newspaper  readers  by 
the  hundred  thousand.  It  was  particularly  painful 
tor  the  old-line  newspapers  which  adhered  to  old 
standards,  with  their  lights  growing  dimmer  day  by 
day  m  comparison  with  the  great  leaders 

The  good  old  New  York  Times  was  driven  far  up 
on  the  rocks  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver.     Then  came 
Adolph  S.  Ochs  from  Chattanooga,  with  a  sounder 
kind  of  journalism  than  New  York  had  ever  known 
which  he  apphed  slowly  but  surely,  until  to-day  he 
has  as  much  circulation  as  and  more  display  advertis- 
ing than  either  the  World  or  American. 
Up  to  1896  the  great  independent  evening  news- 
I  paper  had  not  been  known  in  New  York.  Lawson  had 
.  shown  the  way  with  his  Chicago  Daily  News,  Nelson 
j  ^thh,s  Kansas  City  Star,  Sir  Hugh  Graham  with  his 
Montreal  Star,  and  Pulitzer  with  his  St.  Louis  Post- 
Dispatch.     But  New  York  had  not  felt  the  impulse 
t  ^;  ^^V  ^"j^^^^^  <iecided  to  start  an  evening  edition 
of  The  World,  and  Hearst,  not  to  be  outdone,  promptly 
launched  his  Evening  Journal  with  200,000  circulation 
overnight     Such  a  circulation  start  had  never  been 
seen  anywhere.    Advertisers  who  had  established  their 
business  on  newspaper  circulations  of  less  than  100,000 
now  had  opportunities  for  broader  appeal  thrust  on 
them  m  a  way  that  made  them  fairly  dizzy 
Dunng  this  period  what  we  know  as  newspaper 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     31 

V 

advertising  really  had  its  birth  in  New  York  and  be- 
came general  throughout  the  country.     A  highly  com-r 
petitive  market  enabled  advertisers  to  buy  space  at 
a  lower  rate  per  line  per  thousand  than  ever  before 
and  to  secure  wonderful  increase  in  traffic. 

The  two  great  yellow  evening  newspapers  grew 
like  mushrooms,  The  World  to  nearly  400,000  and 
The  Journal  to  600,000  and  even  800,000  on  occasions. 
As  in  the  morning  field,  a  group  of  three  better- 
grade  evening  newspapers  gradually  came  forward 
during  1903  and  1904 — The  Evening  Sun,  The  Evening 
,  Mail,  and  The  Globe.  The  latter  two  formerly  sold 
for  two  cents  per  copy,  and  made  a  strong  bid  for 
popular  favor. 

The  Mail  changed  its  price  from  two  cents  to  one 
cent  in  1903,  and  the  old  Commercial  Advertiser 
changed  its  name  to  The  Globe  and  its  price  to  one 
cent  in  1904.  New  York  was  ripe  for  such  news- 
papers, which  grew  by  gradual  process  as  The  New 
York  Times  had  done,  and  they  had  among  the  three 
in  191 7  over  500,000  circulation. 

The  success  of  the  decent  journalism  practised  by 
The  New  York  Times,  The  Evening  Sun,  and  The  Globe, 
making  papers  that  reached  750,000  purchasers  a  day 
and  refusing  to  print  offensive  or  fraudulent  adver- 
tising, marked  the  opening  of  an  important  era  in  the 
development  of  modem  effective  advertising. 

War  necessities  made  all  daily  newspapers  go  to 
two  cents  per  copy  in  January,  1918,  which  by  the 
end  of  that  year  found  themselves  with  net  daily  sales 
almost  if  not  fully  equal  to  those  previously  enjoyed 
at  one  cent  the  copy,  with  other  and  less  worthy 
journals  showing  striking  slumps  in  sales. 
Consciously  or  unconsciously,  New  York  bad  swung 


yi 


32      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

into  Une  with  the  best  experience  in  Chicago.  Phila- 
delphia, St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  Washington,  Minne- 
apolis, and  other  cities,  and  succeeded  in  establishing 
high-grade  newspapers  with  large  enough  circulation 
to  cover  the  neld. 

In  my  opinion  the  foolish  quest  for  mere  quantity 
of  circulation  is  more  largely  responsible  for  our  news- 
papers going  so  far  afield  for  circulation  growth  as  to 
niake  such  distnbution  of  questionable  value  to  the 
advertiser,  and  put  a  premium  upon  much  false 
pretense. 

Newspaper  circulation  of  the  most  useful  kind  is 
local  sales--in  the  trading  zone  immediately  surround- 
ing city  of  publication.  Such  circulation  reached 
with  advertising  in  connection  with  the  names  of 
local  dealers  when  the  goods  can  be  seen  and  bought 
IS  most  effective.  ^ 

In  the  case  of  The  New  York  Globe  we  could  easily 

o^iiT"^  .f '''.''f  ^"^  '"'^''^^^  circulation  by  going  far 
afield  for  it  with  pre-dated  editions  or  special  offers 
but  we  never  have  done  so,  for  we  recognized  that 
there  was  no  money  in  it  for  us  or  our  advertisers. 
Uur  sale  is  over  94  per  cent,  in  Greater  New  York 
and  immediate  suburbs. 


IV 


Advertising  from  the  Newspaper  Viewpoint 

It  may  be  set  down  as  a  fundamental  principle 
that  the  newspaper  which  sells  its  advertising  space 
except  as  a  by-product — the  right  for  a  definite  con- 
sideration to  appeal  to  its  readers — can  never  become 
a  community  institution  with  the  full  confidence  of 
the  people. 

The  experiment  has  been  tried  times  without  end, 
but  history  clearly  proves  that  those  who  have  gone 
farthest  have  first  made  their  newspapers  and  then 
sold  advertising  space.  The  one-cent  newspaper  of 
yesterday,  with  a  heavy  volume  of  advertising  a 
prime  necessity,  made  the  advertiser  entirely  too  im- 
portant a  factor. 

Neither  Victor  F.  Lawson  with  The  Chicago  Daily 
News,  Colonel  W.  R.  Nelson  with  The  Kansas  City 
Star,  W.  L.  McLean  with  The  Philadelphia  Bulletin, 
Joseph  Pulitzer  with  The  New  York  World,  nor  Adolph 
S.  Ochs  with  The  New  York  Times  ever  had  any 
delusion  regarding  the  proper  relationship. 

Even  Hearst,  with  all  his  deplorable  methods,  has 
always  been  willing  to  devote  enormous  sums  to  give 
his  various  sheets  a  large  circulation  before  making 
any  serious  efforts  to  secure  advertising  for  them  on 
any  basis  which  would  or  might  give  the  advertiser 
a  strangle-hold. 


\ 


34     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

^  No  single  advertiser  or  group  of  advertisers  is  so 
important  to  a  newspaper  as  the  newspaper  is  to  the 
advertiser,  Too  often  have  the  advertisers  of  a 
town,  by  combination,  sought  to  discipHne  a  news- 
paper, only  to  find  that  in  the  end  they  had  lost  more 
than  they  had  gained  in  the  process. 

The  sooner  our  newspaper-advertising  men  learn 
to  appreaate  the  fact  that  their  newspapers  are  made 
pnmarily  for  the  reader  and  to  serve  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  public,  regardless  of  the  likes  or  dislikes 
of  any  advertisers,  the  better  and  more  effective 
advertismg  men  they  will  be. 

No  sane  person  expects  more  of  a  club,  a  restau- 
rant, or  a  store  than  he  pays  for  on  the  same  basis 
as  any  one  else,  yet  through  our  own  weakness  and 
lack  of  backbone  some  of  us  have  brought  many  to 
the  idea  that  they  can,  at  least  measurably,  control 
our  utterances  if  we  allow  them  to  buy  a  few  lines  of 
our  space,  and  that  often  at  too  low  a  rate. 

Until  our  newspaper  men  are  brought  to  a  sounder 
basis  of  ordinary  commercial  understanding  or  in- 
telhgence  I  suppose  they  will  look  upon  every  thou- 
sand dollars  received  over  the  counter  for  advertising 
as  one  thousand  doUars  profit.     When  they  learn, 
through  the  appHcation  of  accurate  cost  figures,  that 
many  of  the  one  thousand  doUars  they  earn 'yield 
only  one  hundred  doUars  of  net  profit  or  perhaps  none 
at  aU,  they  will  not  be  so  apt  to  tolerate  the  indigni- 
ties they  have  submitted  to  in  the  past. 
/  By  the  same  token,  we  should  aU  understand  that 
even  m  the  case  of  the  most  successful  department 
stores  they  figure  that  without  advertising  they  could 
secure  only  one-half  of  the  business  they  now  do.     In 
other  words,  without  advertising  they  could  not  live 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      35 

In  Chicago  in  1898  there  was  a  stereotypers'  strike 
which  forced  all  the  daily  newspapers  to  suspend 
publication  for  eight  or  ten  days.  Practically  all 
traffic  in  the  great  State  Street  stores  ceased.  After 
a  few  days  the  merchants  told  me  that  if  the  thing 
continued  for  thirty  days  many  of  them  would  fail. 

This  was  the  most  notable  and  definite  demon- 
stration of  the  power  of  newspaper  advertising  ever 
coming  within  my  experience  and  gives  one  a  world 
of  confidence  in  dealing  with  advertisers  who  would 
have  us  think  that  they  alone  keep  us  alive. 

When  there  is  a  strike,  or  an  elevator  falls  in  one 
of  our  stores,  the  management's  first  move  is  to  call 
up  the  newspaper  offices  in  an  effort  to  keep  the  news 
out  of  the  papers,  for  fear  knowledge  of  it  might 
deter  women  from  entering  the  establishment.  People 
who  live  in  glass  houses  should  be  very  careful  whom 
they  stone.  If  our  newspapers  were  to  tell  the  truth 
regarding  the  working  conditions  in  some  of  our 
lower-grade  retail  shops,  some  of  those  who  now  pose 
as  philanthropists  would  prove  to  be  mere  slave- 
drivers,  buying  goods  and  labor  regardless  of  decencies, 
to  sell  at  the  highest  price  the  traffic  will  bear. 

I  say  this  without  any  intention  of  casting  asper- 
sions at  the  thousands  of  upright  merchants  doing  a 
clean  and  reputable  business,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  to  the  forefront  the  type  who  cause  news- 
papers a  large  amount  of  trouble. 

To  withstand  the  subtle  influence  of  advertisers 
and  others  who  seek  to  get  from  us  thousands  of  dol- 
lars' worth  of  free  publicity  is  to  make  our  news- 
papers sounder  business  institutions  which  will  com- 
mand greater  respect. 

When  merchants  give  away  their  goods  to  some  on 


i| 


36      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

request  and  charge  others  our  newspapers  may  be 
justified  in  permitting  one  man  with  more  cheek  than 
others  to  secure  pubHcity  free  of  cost,  while  the 
others  are  obliged  to  seek  similar  results  through 
costly  advertising. 

Newspapers  have  yet  to  establish  and  maintain 
rigid  standards  that  will  eliminate  the  clever  work  of 
the  press  agents,  who,  as  a  rule,  are  renegades  from 
the  ranks  of  honorable  journalism.  I  know  of  cor- 
porations which  pay  thousands  of  dollars  a  year  to 
put  stuff  over  on  the  newspapers  and  figure  that  they 
save  heavy  expense  for  advertising  by  so  doing. 

Our  great  independent  newspapers  long  ago  adopted 
the  policy  of  no  "free  puffs"  for  anybody  under 
any  ciramistance.  They  boost  all  worth-while  com- 
munity or  charitable  enterprises,  but  do  not  permit 
themselves  to  be  used  for  the  exploitation  of  com- 
mercial efforts  for  profit. 

Such  newspapers  are  the  best  advertising  mediums. 
The  public  gradually  learns  that  they  are  sound  and 
dependable.  Every  advertiser  appreciates  that  no 
one  else  gets  free  publicity,  which  is  the  same  as  a 
preferential  discount,  as  bait  for  business. 


V 


Co'Opemtion  Often  Discouraged  by  Advertiser 

In  the  light  of  my  experience,  it  is  not  what  news- 
paper advertising  costs  the  advertiser  so  much  as 
what  results  he  gets  for  every  thousand  dollars  spent 
in  advertising  that  should  concern  him.  As  long  as 
price  remains  the  large  consideration  in  the  mind  of 
the  buyer,  he  is  going  to  limit  the  service  the  seller 
can  afford  to  deliver  to  him. 

If  the  advertiser  desires  to  secure  even  an  approxi- 
mation of  what  is  within  the  possibilities  for  him  he 
should  seek  to  get  the  best  service  obtainable,  and 
appreciate  that  to  do  so  he  must  be  willing  to  pay  for 
it,  where  he  can  buy  it. 

This  is  said  without  any  purpose  of  criticism,  but 
only  to  stimulate  the  spirit  which  should  exist  be- 
tween the  buyer  and  seller  of  advertising.  There  are 
to-day  only  a  very  few  newspapers  in  the  whole  coun- 
try which  sell  the  sort  of  service  I  have  in  mind. 

Only  too  often  continuous  support  of  those  who 
have  demonstrated  their  willingness  and  ability  to 
render  this  service  has  been  refused  by  those  who 
have  most  profited  by  it.  If  the  advertiser  fails  to 
appreciate  the  sort  of  service  best  calculated  to  pro- 
duce the  most  profitable  results  for  him,  of  what  use 
is  it  for  the  publisher  to  seek  to  maintain  the  service? 


38      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Some  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  advertising 
agent  is  largely  responsible  for  this  attitude.  They 
think  the  agent,  in  his  attempts  to  justify  his  own 
service,  incHnes  to  minimize  the  effective  service  of 
the  newspaper. 

In  this  I  believe  that  they  are  mistaken,  but  in  a 
statement  before  the  New  York  Advertising  Club  in 
January,  1916,  Stanley  Resor  said  he  would  rather 
have  the  amount  spent  by  the  newspapers  for  co- 
operative service  made  available  for  the  use  of  agents 
to  stimulate  definite  accounts. 

Of  course  the  agent,  like  any  other  human  being, 
wants  to  emphasize  the  service  he  renders  his  cHent. 
If  the  newspaper  encroaches  upon  the  service  the 
agent  has  marked  out  for  himself,  we  can't  blame 
him  for  looking  upon  this  as  rather  interfering  with 
him  than  helping  him. 

In  this  respect  there  has  been  a  marked  change  in 
the  viewpoint  of  most  agents  and  newspaper  publishers 
through  a  growing  feeling  of  good  faith  and  co- 
operation. Our  modem  up-to-the-minute  agencies 
welcome  the  co-operation  of  newspapers,  as  will  be 
shown  in  other  chapters.  It  stands  to  reason  that, 
through  the  machinery  of  a  multipHcity  of  news- 
papers, data  and  local  information  can  be  collected 
more  quickly  than  in  any  other  way. 

As  we  shall  see  later,  a  spirit  of  mutual  under- 
standing is  growing  which  I  am  confident  is  going  to 
be  highly  beneficial  to  all  concerned— advertisers, 
agents,  and  newspapers.  Our  newspapers  may  not 
be  able  to  secure  the  exact  kind  of  data  an  agent  may 
want,  but  they  certainly  can  assemble  sufficient  de- 
pendable information  for  a  preliminary  survey  of  a 
campaign. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      39 

It  is  nonsense  for  any  one  to  contend  that  the  vast 
sums  of  money  spent  by  The  Chicago  Tribune  in  its 
promotional  department  have  been  wasted  or  could 
have  been  used  more  advantageously.  James  Keeley 
in  1 9 13,  when  general  manager  of  The  Chicago  Trib- 
une, stated: 

We  are  endeavoring  to  show  and  demonstrate  to  variotis  adver- 
tisers the  opportunities  that  exist  for  them  in  the  territory  in 
which  The  Chicago  Tribune  is  printed.  We  have  set  aside  a 
tund  of  $50,000  for  use  this  year  for  the  purpose,  this  being  in 
addition  to  the  $100,000  or  more  that  we  will  spend  in  advertising 
our  advertising. 

In  connection  with  The  New  York  Globe's  food  ad- 
vertising we  have  had  frequent  and  abundant  oppor- 
tunity during  the  last  four  years  to  study  the  matter 
in  many  very  interesting  variations.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  repeated  evidence  of  lack  of  appreciation 
and  continued  support,  we  were  not  discouraged 
in  our  efforts  to  prove  a  theory  by  repeated 
demonstrations. 

For  example,  we  have  taken  an  unknown  sound 
article  and,  by  putting  back  of  it  all  the  power  and 
consumer  demand  we  could,  given  it  a  substantial 
distribution  and  sale,  only  to  get  as  our  sole  reward 
the  satisfaction  of  having  accomplished  the  result, 
the  manufacturer,  thinking  we  could  be  of  no  further 
use  to  him,  quitting  our  council. 

In  Newspaper  Building  I  presented  a  closer  study 
of  some  of  the  demonstrations  by  The  Globe  than  I 
can  give  here.  We  have  had  customers,  whom  we 
have  made  in  a  business  way,  come  to  New  York 
with  subsequent  campaigns  and  use  other  mediums 
which  have  paid  no  attention  to  pure  foods,  for  the 


I 
I 


40     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

reason  that  they  knew  The  Globe  was  fighting  their 
battle,  regardless  of  their  advertising. 

It  should  be  obvious  to  any  advertiser  that  the 
newspaper  which  specializes  in  any  particular  field 
is  read  by  people  in  the  community  interested  in 
that  subject,  and  that  it  will  produce  quicker  and 
more  profitable  results  for  their  advertising.  No 
newspaper  could  afford  to  carry  on  a  feature  unless 
it  had  an  important  following.  Yet  there  are  many 
who  waste  their  money,  ignoring  such  co-operation 
and  using  other  newspapers  in  which  they  must  till 
the  soil  by  heavy  expenditures  before  they  can  secure 
any  sort  of  a  crop. 

This  The  Globe  has  proved  most  convincingly  in 
many  different  directions.  During  the  year  19 13, 
when  it  was  conducting  its  great  initial  campaign 
for  pure  food,  it  accumulated  upward  of  50,000  letters 
from  readers  asking  what  foods  were  sound  and  where 
they  could  be  bought. 

When  we  devised  our  Pure  Food  Directory  and  per- 
mitted the  manufacturers  of  honest  foods  that  were 
approved  by  Mr.  McCann  to  advertise,  it  was  as  if 
we  had  taken  down  the  service  gates  of  a  dam. 
Thousands  of  people  immediately  rushed  to   these 
dealers,  demanding  their  products. 
^  Without  premeditation  we  had  overturned  all  prac- 
tices and  traditions  of  the  trade,  and  proved  that 
consumer   demand  sufficiently  intensified  can  force 
distribution  despite  the  opposition  or  reluctance  of 
jobbers  or  dealers.     We  cut  out  all  chance  of  sub- 
stitution, for  our   readers  were   acting  on  the   ad- 
vice of  Mr.  McCann  and  not  on  that  of  the  comer 
grocer. 

I  touch  upon  this  phase  of  the  matter  only  to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     41 

indicate  that  I  am  not  merely  considering  a  theory, 
but  actual  experience. 

My  object  is  to  drive  home  to  advertisers  and 
newspaper  publishers  alike  the  conviction  that  through 
sincere  co-operative  effort  newspaper  advertising  can 
be  brought  to  produce  results  far  beyond  anything 
coming  within  the  ordinary  experience  of  those  merely 
trafficking  in  space. 

The  book  publishers  long  ago  found  out  that  they 
got  best  results  from  those  newspapers  which  special- 
ized in  book  reviews.  It  was  obvious  to  them  that 
a  constituency  which  read  such  matter  regularly — 
and  the  newspaper  could  not  long  continue  to  print 
such  matter  if  it  was  not  read — ^was  ever  on  the  look- 
out for  new  books. 

Likewise  the  newspapers  which  devote  much  space 
to  real  estate,  financial,  insurance,  and  legal  news  are 
always  the  most  effective  mediums  for  advertising 
along  these  lines.  It  seems  almost  absurd  to  have  to 
prove  such  self-evident  truths,  but  some  of  our  badly 
advised  advertisers  operate  without  regard  to  them.  . 

It  is  almost  impossible  for  a  single  newspaper  to 
specialize  in  every  direction  and  to  be  equally  effective 
for  all  advertising,  much  as  we  publishers  would  like 
to  make  people  believe  the  contrary  of  oiu-  own  pub- 
lica  lions. 

This  leads  us  to  the  point  of  my  argument,  that 
advertisers,  advertising  agents,  and  publishers  can 
get  together  to  accomplish  results  far  beyond  our 
fondest  dreams.  If  the  advertiser  will  support  with 
his  advertising  the  efforts  of  publishers  specializing  in 
his  field,  he  will  get  greater  results  and  enable  the 
newspaper  to  render  even  greater  service  as  support 
justifies. 


If 


j 


42     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

v^?""  ^f^^^t  ••^garding  food  advertising  in  New 
York,  The  Globe  carries  twice  as  much  as  any  other 
evenmg  newspaper,  and  many  times  as  much  as  any 
of  the  morning  newspapers.  As  a  result  we  can  af- 
ford to  maintain  an  expensive  service  and  devote 
much  space  to  the  subject. 

It  should  beobvious  that  in  the  circumstances  no 
food  camp^^  m  New  York  should  be  attempted  with- 
out Th^  Globe.  Its  readers  are  interested  in  foods 
and  wiU  respond  to  food  advertising,  while  the  readers 
of  a  newspaper  that  devotes  no  special  attention  to 
the  subject  may  pass  such  advertising  by 

Likewise  with  respect  to  advertising  addressed  to 
women,  such  as  that  of  the  large  retaU  shops,  The 
Olobe  among  the  evening  newspapers  and  The  Times 
in  the  morning,  reaching  the  class  with  money  to 
spend,  and  specializing  in  genuine  fashion  depart- 
ments read  by  women,  to-day  cany  the  largest  vol- 
ume of  the  better-grade  business. 

The  Times  by  its  long  and  faithful  presentation  of 
the  news  of  Wall  Street,  the  courts,  and  business, 
stands  in  a  class  by  itself  among  the  morning  papers 
for  advertismg  appealing  to  people  interested  in  those 
affairs.     Likewise,    The   Times,   by  its  capable  and 
reliable  book  news  and  reviews,  has  buUt  up  book 
advertising   and   merits   larger   support   from   book 
publishers  for  their  announcements  than  any  other 
JNew  York  morning  newspaper. 
_    Purposeful  specialization  by  important  newspapers 
IS  entirely  different  from  pretended  specialization  by 
weak  journals  seeking  advertising  in  exchange  for 
free  pubhcity.  * 

Some  advertisers  fail  to  perceive  the  difference 
between  newspapers  and  newspaper  service.    I  have 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     43 

in  mind  one  very  small  newspaper  which  is  made  for 
a  class  which  probably  never  bought  anything  through 
an  advertisement.  Yet  there  are  those  too  dense  to 
realize  that  they  can  produce  no  more  tangible  results 
by  using  it  than  by  changing  their  money  from  one 
pocket  to  another. 

There  are  still  many  advertisers  who  think  that 
because  they  advertise  in  a  journal  they  can  control 
its  policy,  and  others  who  withdraw  their  business  be- 
cause the  newspaper  may  editorially  touch  upon  their 
enterprise  in  a  way  that  does  not  sit  well  on  their 
stomachs. 

Business  men  advertise  to  the  readers  of  a  news- 
paper. By  buying  advertising  they  cannot  prevent 
a  worth-while  newspaper  from  handling  any  subject 
in  any  way  it  wants.  If  they  withdraw  their  busi- 
ness they  are  the  losers,  for  they  lose  their  oppor- 
tunity, and  the  newspaper  more  often  than  not  loses 
nothing  by  the  omission. 


VI 


Appearance  of  the  Advertising  Agent 

Coupled  with  advertising  as  an  important  factor 
in  all  business  promotion  for  our  newspapers  came 
a  middleman  between  the  seller  and  buyer  of  space, 
in  the  shape  of  the  advertising  agent.  Being 
paid  a  commission  by  the  newspaper,  he  was  for  a 
long  time  supposed  to  represent  the  publisher  in 
securing  and  clearing  business. 

For  example,  when  the  business  of  an  advertiser 
justified  the  use  of  several  newspapers,  and  particu- 
larly in  other  cities  throughout  the  country,  he  natu- 
rally went  to  an  advertising  agent  representing  a 
large  number  of  newspapers  for  advice,  service,  and 
mtormation. 

His  space  cost  him  no  more  than  it  would  if  ten- 
dered over  the  counters  of  the  various  newspapers 
used,  for  the  newspaper  publisher  by  the  allowance  of 
a  commission  paid  the  advertising  agent  for  the  ser- 
vice rendered  to  the  chent,  just  the  same  as  the  insur- 
ance companies  pay  the  agent  to  whom  a  man  goes 
for  insurance. 

All  of  this  was  very  simple  and  effective  until  too 
many  newspaper  men  entered  the  advertising-agency 
business,  agents  began  to  extract  large  profits  from 
the  traffic,   and  too  many  newspapers  with  aching 


< 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     45 

voids  commenced  to  bid  for  business  by  extra  induce- 
ments in  the  way  of  special  rates. 

Those  of  us  in  the  business  during  the  '8o's  in  New 
York  well  remember  W.  L.  Beadnell,  W.  H.  H.  Hull, 
Lyman  D.  Morse,  George  Norman,  Daniel  Clark, 
Richard  Bell,  N.  W.  Ayer,  G.  P.  Rowell,  and  scores 
of  others  who,  by  faithful  service,  helped  clients  to 
increased  traffic  through  their  special  knowledge  of 
the  sort  of  advertising  that  brought  results. 

But  in  spite  of  the  sincere  agents,  conditions  grew 
worse,  as  almost  any  one  who  wanted  to  do  so  could 
hang  out  a  shingle,  get  credit  from  the  newspapers, 
and  bamboozle  the  would-be  advertiser.  Practices 
grew  up  which  it  has  taken  a  generation  to  live  down, 
so  that  even  to-day  certain  newspapers  view  with 
suspicion  any  overtures  from  all  but  a  few  advertising 
agents. 

I  want  to  say  here  that  in  my  opinion  the  news- 
papers by  their  own  foolishness  and  weakness  were 
largely  responsible  for  what  happened  to  them.  It 
took  them  years  to  start  standardizing  the  rec- 
ognition and  credits  of  advertising  agents  and 
advertisers. 

George  P.  Rowell,  one  of  the  pioneer  agents  and  the 
creator  of  Printers'  Ink,  established  Ripans  Tabules 
by  securing  thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars  of 
advertising  in  exchange  for  advertising  space  in  that 
trade  paper  during  its  early  days. 

Dr.  R.  V.  Pierce,  of  Buffalo,  likewise  secured 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars  of  very  cheap 
space  by  offering  the  newspapers  machinery  and  such 
articles  upon  which  he  made  enormous  profits,  in 
exchange  for  space  for  advertising  his  **  Golden 
Medical  Discovery." 


46     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Everything  from  jack-knives  to  stoves  and  dogs 
were  handed  to  the  newspapers  for  space.  It  got  so 
that  an  advertising  agent  would  make  you  a  bet  that 
by  attaching  a  dollar  bill  to  a  piece  of  copy  and  fur- 
nishing a  cut  a  certain  percentage  of  newspapers 
would  finally  accept  it  and  run  the  ad. 

Then  again  there  developed  the  man  who  secured 
blanket  space  in  a  number  of  newspapers  for  money 
or  trade  or  various  promises,  and  peddled  it  about  for 
the  highest  rate  he  could  get,  more  frequently  than 
not  failing  to  make  good  payment  to  the  newspaper. 

After  a  time,  even  in  the  early  days,  some  of  the 
advertising  agents  began  to  think  of  themselves  as 
advertisers'  representatives.  Instead  of  stimulating 
business  for  the  newspapers  they  sat  back  and  com- 
pelled the  newspapers  to  soHcit  them  for  business, 
and  many  of  them  added  service  exactions  on  the 
publisher. 

The  so-called  newspaper  directory,  the  first  of 
which  to  become  an  important  factor  being  Rowell's 
(now  N.  W.  Ayer's  American  Newspaper  Directory), 
was  a  source  of  annoyance  and  a  means  of  graft  for 
the  advertising  agents.  Every  year  the  publishers 
were  urged  to  take  a  page  in  the  directories  at  high 
rates,  to  be  deducted  from  business  given  them. 

The  agents  in  many  cases  went  so  far  as  openly  to 
state  that  they  would  give  preference  to  the  papers 
giving  business  to  their  directories.  This,  of  course, 
caused  resentment  among  the  newspapers,  which  re- 
fused to  be  blackmailed,  and  advertisers,  whose  money 
was  spent  to  feather  the  agents'  nests  and  not  where 
it  would  do  the  advertiser  the  most  good. 

Despite  all  these  handicaps,  the  business  of  com- 
mercial stimulation  grew  by  leaps  and  bounds,  for 


14 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     47 

newspaper  advertising  was  too  powerful  an  instru- 
mentality to  become  ineffective  merely  because  those 
who  handled  it  were  partially  corrupt  or  ineffective. 

Around  this  business  grew  up  men  who  learned  more 
and  more  about  effective  advertising.  Wonderful 
progress  was  made  in  copy- writing,  illustration,  and 
typographical  presentation.  Many  agencies  devel- 
oped men  who,  through  experience,  could  turn  out 
the  sort  of  product  that  brought  resiolts.  They  were 
forced  to  take  on  merchandizing  experts  and  study  of 
distribution  to  meet  the  demands  for  service  by  the 
advertiser. 

Likewise  the  advertiser,  oftentimes  with  his  own 
advertising  manager,  began  to  demand  a  slice  of  the 
agent's  commissions  through  a  rebate  to  the  client, 
on  pretense  that  he  used  the  agent  only  to  clear 
through.  Certain  prosperous  concerns  were  said  to 
scale  the  thing  down  to  the  bone,  allowing  the 
agent  merely  2,  3,  or  4  per  cent,  of  the  15  to  25 
they  got. 

Other  large  advertisers  built  up  their  own  adver- 
tising agencies  and  bought  space  at  net  rates,  while 
comjjetitors  paid  gross  prices. 

Out  of  the  chaos  came  the  American  Newspaper 
Publishers'  Association,  with  its  official  recognition  of 
agencies  with  sound  financial  standing,  the  Advertis- 
ing Agents'  Association,  with  its  effort  to  standardize 
agency  practices,  and  the  Advertising  Managers'  Asso- 
ciation to  regulate  relations  all  along  the  line. 

Through  the  Quoin  Club,  composed  of  the  maga- 
zines, all  agents  who  split  commissions  were  subject 
to  loss  of  recognition.  Increased  demands  by  ad- 
vertisers on  the  agents  for  service  have  made  the  cost 
of  handling  business  encroach  dangerously  upon  the 


48     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

commission,  until  to-day  many  agents  who  render  all 
the  service  required  frequently  demand  and  receive 
extra  compensation. 

Without  any  doubt  a  determination  by  agents  to 
bill  all  customers  at  full  card  rates,  as  in  the  case  of 
their  traffic  with  the  magazines,  would  remove  a  most 
dangerous  and  disastrous  condition  in  their  business. 

All  this,  as  will  be  seen,  tended  to  Hne  up  the  adver- 
tising agent  closer  to  the  advertiser  and  farther  away 
in  some  respects  from  the  publisher,  whom  he  started 
out  to  serve  in  return  for  a  commission.  This  is  per- 
haps a  logical  evolution  produced  by  long  experience, 
but  modem  practices  would  seem  to  be  drawing  agent 
and  newspaper  closer  together  again  for  new  co- 
operation, as  will  be  shown  in  a  later  chapter. 

In  New  York  and  only  a  few  Eastern  cities  is  the 
advertising  agent  recognized  in  the  case  of  local  busi- 
ness. Elsewhere  he  is  limited  to  foreign  or  general 
business — advertising  placed  generally  throughout  the 
country  and  originating  outside  of  the  city  where  the 
newspaper  is  published.  The  line  between  foreign 
and  general  advertising  leads  to  endless  disputes  in 
many  places  where  the  newspapers  have  failed  to 
adopt  and  adhere  to  the  simple  fundamental  rule 
above  indicated. 

In  one  city  there  is  a  never-ending  dispute  between 
publishers  and  agents  because  the  newspapers  claim 
that  residence  of  a  general  advertiser  in  their  town 
makes  the  business  of  his  concern  local  to  them. 
This  is  absolutely  silly.  If  a  business  has  grown  out 
of  its  home  town  so  that  it  spreads  out  far  afield,  it 
is  general,  and  the  agent  is  entitled  to  compensation 
in  the  way  of  commission  for  the  service  he  renders. 

Likewise,  an  agent  is  entitled  to  his  commission 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     49 

on  all  business  he  develops  and  places  with  the  news- 
papers, even  though  printed  in  connection  with  the 
names  of  local  dealers,  for  herein  lies  the  great  su- 
periority of  newspaper  advertising  over  other  so-called 
general  advertising. 


i( 


VII 

The  Coming  of  the  Special  Representative 

L.  H.  Crall  was  the  first  special  representative 
to  come  to  New  York  on  behalf  of  out-of-town 
newspapers  in  1875.  He  responded  to  a  change  in 
conditions  in  the  advertising  world  and  represented 
the  medium  after  it  became  obvious  that  the  adver- 
tising agents  had  become  representatives  of  the  ad- 
vertiser and  not  of  the  pubHsher. 

The  out-of-town  newspaper  discovered  that  if  it 
were  to  secure  its  share  of  the  growing  volume  of 
advertising  appropriations  going  out  from  the  agencies 
it  would  have  to  have  a  man  constantly  at  the  great 
advertising  centers  to  represent  it  intelligently. 

Among  the  pioneers  I  remember,  besides  Crall,  A. 
Frank  Richardson,  S.  C.  Beckwith,  Teddy  Eiker,  Sam 
Perry,  Lester  Smith,  C.  J.  Billson,  E.  Katz,  Henry 
Bright,  Perry  Lukens,  J.  E.  Van  Daren,  E.  T.  Perry, 
Louis  A.  Leonard,  N.  M.  Sheffield,  Frank  S.  Gray, 
J.  Martin  Miller,  Thaddeus  Eiker,  and  a  score  of 
others  who  made  big  money  when  the  going  was 
good. 

At  the  start  the  newspaper  publishers  figured  that 
it  was  a  sounder  business  proposition  to  allow  the 
special  representative  a  commission  on  all  foreign 
business  rather  than  to  pay  him  a  decent  living  salary, 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     51 

office  rent,  and  expenses.  This  seemed  cheaper  and 
more  effective  than  having  a  home-office  man  make 
frequent  trips  about  the  country,  which  got  him  into 
bad  habits,  and,  as  the  home-office  man  was  a  com- 
parative stranger  to  the  plutocrats  in  the  agencies, 
the  latter  more  often  than  not  showed  that  they  were 
too  important  to  devote  much  time  to  strangers  in 
the  big  city. 

By  securing  a  list  of  newspapers  to  represent,  the 
special  agent  found  himself  in  clover.  Those  were 
the  days  of  real  sport  in  the  advertising  business. 
More  men  went  on  the  rocks  through  drink  and  other 
dissipation,  because  their  prosperity  came  too  quick, 
than  at  any  other  time  or  in  any  other  business  that 
I  have  ever  heard  of. 

Many  of  the  specials  seemed  to  think  that  the  easy 
way  to  increased  business  was  by  buying  it  through 
lavish  entertaining.  Some  of  the  early  specials  roll- 
ing in  easy  money  traveled  like  princes,  as  if  to  prove 
by  their  wastefulness  that  their  mediums  were  the 
greatest  on  earth. 

In  the  middle  '90's  these  merry  times  ended,  as  a 
large  number  of  the  publishers  by  general  consent 
changed  the  relation  with  their  representatives  and 
put  effective  men  on  straight  salary  and  expense  basis, 
and  demanded  a  fixed  ratio  of  business  per  dollar 
spent. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  profligate  days  in  the  special- 
agency  business  many  advertisers  resented  the  added 
cost  of  advertising  to  them  represented  in  maintain- 
ing the  men  who  sought  to  corrupt  their  employees. 

These  readjustments  brought  into  the  special  field 
a  group  of  men  fresh  from  the  home  offices  of  the 
most  successful  newspapers,  men  of  sound  training 


i< 


52     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

who  knew  their  mediums  and  the  towns  in  which 
they  were  pubHshed. 

Among  them  were  men  of  the  type  of  Dan  Carroll 
and  John  Woodward,  who  took  their  calling  seriously 
and  commenced  to  build  up  definite  plans  of  service 
to  the  advertisers  to  make  their  advertising  more 
effective  than  it  ever  had  been. 

Such  effort  was  a  novelty,  but  it  took  years  for  the 
specials  to  educate  their  newspapers  regarding  what 
it  would  really  mean  to  them  in  increased  business. 
The  fact  that  they  represented  successful  newspapers 
made  the  task  only  the  more  difficult. 

If  any  one  will  show  me  a  tougher  nut  to  crack 
than  getting  a  successful  newspaper  publisher  to  do 
new  things  I  should  like  to  see  it.  Filled  with  a  false 
pride  in  his  strength,  the  average  successful  publisher 
goes  out  of  his  way  to  prove  his  independence  of  an 
advertiser.  It  is  this  strange  psychological  phenome- 
non on  the  part  of  newspaper  owners  which  generally 
provides  the  opportunity  for  the  new-comer  with 
real  brains,  newspaper  instinct,  and  a  willingness  to 
serve,  to  supersede  them.  Pulitzer  with  The  World 
proved  the  truth  of  the  thing  in  New  York  in  1883, 
as  did  Ochs  with  The  Times  in  1897. 

It  was  against  such  a  wall  that  the  new  specials 
worked.  Their  theories  of  how  to  stimulate  new  and 
permanent  business  were  sound  and  practical  and 
would  not  be  denied.  First  of  all,  the  specials  com- 
menced to  give  the  distant  advertiser  more  intimate 
facts  regarding  the  merchandizing  possibilities  of  the 
cities  in  which  the  newspapers  they  represented  were 
published.  They  produced  masses  of  statistical  data 
carefully  arranged  for  instant  reference. 

They  brought  to  the  hand  of  the  advertiser  the  very 


I 

% 
4 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      53 

sort  of  information  he  most  needed  for  the  planning 
and  carrying  through  of  successful  campaigns.  It  was 
information  and  service  more  quickly  obtainable  and 
more  dependable  than  anything  he  had  ever  been 
able  to  secure  at  any  price  regardless  of  the  element 
of  time. 

These  service  specials  were  a  sound  breed  of  men 
whom  advertisers  found  they  could  take  into  their 
confidence  and  depend  on  to  help  them  score  success 
with  their  campaigns.  They  were  men  respected  by 
both  advertisers  and  advertising  agents,  for  they  dis- 
placed no  one,  helped  every  one  in  the  situation,  and 
were  as  much  interested  in  the  success  of  the  ad- 
vertiser as  he  could  possibly  be  himself. 


VIII 

Ineffective  National  Advertising  Mediums 

With  the  development  of  advertising  have  come 
all  sorts  of  mediums  as  often  as  not  primarily  de- 
signed to  separate  the  would-be  advertiser  from  his 
money  by  the  most  painless  method.  Everything 
from  the  covering  of  lead-pencils  and  blotters  to 
bill-boards,  etc.,  has  been  used  to  get  money  for 
*' advertising,"  and  is  still  used  upon  those  willing  to 
exchange  dollars  for  "conversation"  and  "chance 
shots.'* 

For  a  period,  likewise,  the  monthly  magazines  and 
weekly  periodicals  became  dangerous  competitors  of 
real  advertising— newspaper  advertising.  Grossly  in- 
flated circulations  obtained  by  cutting  prices  to  ten 
cents  and  five  cents  and  publishing  sensational  muck- 
raking and  sex-problem  matters,  made  these  so- 
called  meditmis  look  mighty  good  to  some  people. 
In  this  group  I  include  those  attracted  by  artistic 
copy,  good  printing,  and  plausible  salesmanship. 

At  the  peak  of  the  day  of  general  mediums,  now 
three  or  four  years  past,  when  they  employed  the 
greatest  and  most  expensive  exponents  of  hot-air 
salesmanship  ever  developed,  many  manufacturers 
could  and  undoubtedly  did  force  distribution  for 
their  products  on  the  strength  of  heavy  campaigns 
in  the  magazines  and  weeklies. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     55 

As  the  dealers  gradually  learned  to  know  that  gen- 
eral advertising  "at  all  dealers"  would  not  move  the 
goods  off  their  shelves,  and  that  they  had  to  use  local 
newspaper  advertising  to  get  their  money  out  of  the 
goods,  they  declined  to  stock  up  on  the  strength  of 
campaigns  in  the  magazines,  and  of  course  the 
bubble  burst. 

Magazine  advertising  had  a  legitimate  place  before 
the  days  of  its  inflation,  and  has  to-day.  The  pre- 
tense, indulged  in  by  the  hot-air  salesmen,  that  the 
so-called  national  advertising  was  advertising  and  all 
other  kinds  merely  supplemental,  helped  bring  their 
downfall,  for  its  increasing  cost  started  people  check- 
ing them  up. 

The  advertising  agents  soon  learned  that  so-called 
national  advertising  was  most  profitable  to  them 
temporarily,  for  they  could  easily  exhaust  an  appro- 
priation among  a  few  mediums  and  save  all  the 
bother  and  expense  of  handling  hundreds  of  widely 
scattered  newspaper  accounts,  with  the  constant 
necessity  of  verifying  insertions  and  keeping  tabs  on 
changes  in  rates. 

But  magazine  and  general  advertising  is  falling 
back  into  its  old  place — supplem.ental  service  to  keep 
a  widely  newspaper  -  advertised  article  before  the 
people.  It  has  not  the  flexibility  of  newspaper  ad- 
vertising, which  can  be  adjusted  overnight  to  meet 
changed  conditions  regarding  price  or  territory. 

Likewise,  general  advertising  is  extravagant  and 
wasteful  for  any  article  not  having  an  effective  general 
distribution,  which  it  cannot  produce.  Newspaper 
advertising  can  be  used  in  exact  accord  with  distri- 
bution by  city,  state,  or  nation.  The  so-called  zone 
theory  of  the  magazines  is  almost   as  wasteful  as 


M 


II 


56     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

general  presentation,  except  for  occasional  articles  in 
special  demand  in  one  section,  such  as  furs  for  the 
Northern  states  and  other  things  especially  bought 
in  the  South. 

Slow-acting  national  advertising,  involving  the  re- 
lease of  copy  months  in  advance  of  its  distribution  in 
the  printed  periodical,  defeats  its  successful  use  except 
for  merely  keeping  a  name  or  trade-mark  before  the 
public.  If,  during  the  period  between  release  and 
day  of  publication,  circumstances  change  conditions 
the  advertiser  has  no  escape  from  paying  the  bill. 

^  The  era  of  national  advertising  is  filled  with  anni- 
hilations of  hundreds  or  perhaps  thousands  of  manu^ 
facturers  who  were  induced  to  seek  increased  traffic 
on  the  strength  of  pages  in  the  magazines  and  general 
mediums  bought  at  heavy  expense,  before  the  manu- 
facturers had  any  such  distribution  as  would  warrant 
the  attempt.  Many  a  promising  prospect  was  forever 
lost  to  advertising  through  the  greed  of  the  solicitors, 
who  were  compelled  to  keep  the  magazines'  pages 
bristling. 

General  advertising  which  cannot  be  hooked  up 
closely  with  the  local  dealers  in  all  of  the  towns 
where  the  goods  are  on  sale  is  wasteful  and  ineffective. 
Such  a  relation  is  impossible  within  the  commercial 
possibilities  of  general  advertising.  This  is  the  rock 
upon  which  the  golden  galleon  of  the  magazine  went 
to  smash.  The  newspaper  with  the  much  sought  dealer 
relation  has  come  in  for  greater  recognition  and  larger 
use  than  ever  before. 

Magazine  advertising  costs  from  three  to  four  times 
as  much  per  line  per  thousand  as  newspaper  space. 
The  argument  that  magazine  advertising  has  longer 
life  is  more  than  offset  by  increased  cost,  lack  of 


ll 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     57 

definiteness  as  to  where  the  goods  can  be  bought, 
and  the  low  percentage  of  magazine  readers  who  can 
be  influenced  to  buy  through  advertising. 

This  brings  up  a  most  interesting  point  worth  con- 
sideration regarding  the  class  of  people  most  easily 
influenced  to  buy  through  advertising.  My  investiga- 
tions indicate  that  the  class  given  to  the  reading  of  the 
best  grade  of  magazines  do  not  read  or  directly  re- 
spond to  advertising.  Investigation  represented  by 
interviewing  several  hundred  women  of  the  well- 
to-do  households  convinces  me  that  my  statement  is 
justified. 

In  our  every-day  experience  it  is  not  routine  gen- 
eral advertising  which  induces  the  buying  idea.  Who 
has  not  frequently  glanced  at  an  ad.  and  made  up 
his  mind  that  he  wanted  the  goods  advertised,  only 
to  lose  all  recollection  of  his  wish  in  a  minute  because 
the  ad.  was  not  definite  selling  talk  linked  with  a 
local  dealer's  name? 

The  percentage  of  loss  in  advertising  calling  for  a 
letter  is  many  times  as  great  as  it  would  have  been 
if  the  ad.  had  stated  that  **John  Doe"  of  our  home 
town  had  the  article  on  sale.  Here  is  another  obstacle 
that  magazine  and  general  advertising  have  never  been 
able  to  overcome.  Many  hesitate  to  cut  an  ad.  from 
a  magazine  as  a  reminder  to  buy  who  habitually 
would  tear  the  same  ad.  from  their  newspaper. 
Even  an  ad.  cut  from  a  magazine  stating  that  the 
article  is  **For  Sale  by  All  Dealers"  is  only  the  start- 
ing-gun in  the  race. 

We  all  know  of  the  substitution  evil,  and  how  many 
dealers  will  try  to  switch  the  prospect  from  "Cheney 
silk"  to  some  other  kind  which  they  say  is  '*just  as 
good."    The  magazine  reader  in  the  absence  of  a 


II     '_ 


S8     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

definite  list  of  local  dealers  (an  impossibility)  bumps 
up  against  the  substituting  dealer  who  is  glad  some- 
thing brought  a  customer  to  his  shop  so  he  could  sell 
him  something  else. 

My  only  surprise  is  that  magazine  and  so-called 
national  advertising  lasted  as  long  as  it  did.  Had 
it  not  been  for  the  friendly  and  "interested"  influence 
of  advertising  agents  out  for  the  easiest  money,  who, 
under  pretense  of  getting  some  business  for  the  news- 
papers, worked  them  for  free  notices,  it  would  have 
died  long  before  it  did. 

Who  ever  heard  of  the  magazines  giving  their  ad- 
vertisers ''free  publicity"?  They  left  that  for  the 
newspapers  to  do  and  took  nothing  but  real  money 
for  their  space,  and  as  much  as  they  could  get.  Un- 
less an  agent  gave  the  bulk  of  all  appropriations  to 
them  they  cut  off  his  recognition.  Those  were  the 
days  of  strong-arm  methods  until  the  advertisers 
became  convinced  that  such  advertising  was  not 
effective. 

It  can  be  easily  demonstrated  that  magazine  circu- 
lation provides  too  thin  a  distribution  to  possess  any 
practical  advertising  value.  In  nearly  any  city  it 
will  be  found  that  only  a  very  small  percentage  of 
the  newsdealers  carry  a  stock  of  the  monthly  periodi- 
cals. There  is  not  sufficient  traffic  in  them  to  make 
them  profitable  for  the  general  run  of  newsdealers 
to  handle.  They  spend  enormous  sums  of  money 
proportioned  to  sales  to  secure  representation  on 
enough  stands  at  business  centers  to  make  the  care- 
less advertiser  think  they  do  the  same  everywhere. 

Magazine  advertising  space,  as  I  have  said,  costs 
many  times  as  much  per  line  per  thousand  as  news- 
paper circulation.    It  can  be  easily  demonstrated  that 


CIRCULATION  AND  ADVERTISING  RATES  OF  2,166  DAILIES  SUMMARIZED  BY  STATES 

statistical  Data  Presented  Below  Make  It  Pos^ihl^  f^,.  ti.^  \a      *•  ,       . 

Reprinted  from  the  Editor  and  Publisher  of  January  i8.  1919 


Number  of 

English 

o»  *  «                          language 

State  Population.           dailies. 

. .   .  Morn'g    Ev'e 

Alabama 2,395,270 

Arizona 272,034 

Arkansas. 1,792,965 

California.....  3,119,412 

Colorado 1,014,581 

Connecticut  1,286,268 

Delaware  ...„  216,941 

Dist  of  Col..„  374,584 

^o"<^ 938,877 

Georgia. 2,935.617 

J<^aho .". 461,766 

^"'"O's •  6,317,734 

^"<^'^a- 2,854,167 

Jowa. 2,224,771 

^^"sas 1,874,195 

»<e"tucky 2,408,574 

Louisiana.....  1,884,778 

^^rie 782,191 

Maryland 1,384;539 

Massach'tts,  3,832,790 

Michigan 3,133,678 

Minnesota....  2,343  287 

Mississippi...  2,001, 466 

Missouri 3,448,498 

Montana 486,376 

Nebraska 1,291,877 

Nevada 114,742 

New  H'shire  44^  352 

New  Jersey..  3,080,37 1 

New  Mexico.  437,0 1 S 

New  York.....  .10,646,'989 

N.  Carolina..  2,466,025 

N.Dakota....  791,437 

Ohio 5,273.814 

.Oklahgma....  2,377,629 

Oregon ...;  888,243 

Pnsylvania  8,798,067 

R- Island  637,415 

S.  Carolina..  1,660,934 

S.  Dakota....,  735,434 

Tennessee...  2,321,253 

Texas 4,601,279 

Utah ,.-..,..  453,648 

Vermont .,  366,192 

Virginia. 2,234,030 

Washington.  1,660,578 

W.Virginia..  1,439.165 

Wisconsin....  2,553.983 

Wyoming...,.  190,380 

Totals.  105,253,300 


3 

20 

7 

12 

4 

24 

48 

96 

9 

29 

7 

28 

1 

2 

2 

3 

13 

16 

8 

20 

4 

7 

22 

109 

24 

110 

10 

42 

11 

57 

11 

19 

3 

il4 

6 

6 

6 

11 

12 

64 

6 

56 

8- 

35 

4 

11 

15 

62 

11 

7 

7 

18 

3 

7 

2 

10 

7 

30 

1 

6 

44 

111 

9 

24 

3 

9 

26 

125 

14 

44 

8 

22 

44 

\143 

2 

8 

5 

10 

7 

12 

6 

12 

31 

71 

3 

4 

2 

8 

12 

19 

11 

23 

10 

21 

4 

46 

3 

4 

Total  net  paid 
circulation. 
Total.       Morning.    Evening. 

167.486 
27,769 
71.851 
853.672 
242.449 
240,721 
30.024' 
157,528 
57,436 
212,402 
22,155 
1.100,635 
563,942 
481,402 
210,580 
182,208 
148.347 
63.192 
273.028 
1.250.754 
787.043 
507.274 
29.813 
954,259 
33.998 
267.839 
9.018 
42.903 
422.618 
11.360 
2.758,019 
81,011 
,       32.096 
1,739,056 
215,708 
175,219 
1.837,325 
■   132,760 
53.374 
32,897 
219.271 
1500,787 
79,012 
33,018 
229.061 
315.105 
79.538 
404.10T 
12.836 


23 

71.768 

19 

24.043 

28 

57,805 

144 

497,154 

38 

54,239 

35 

91,645 

3 

10.600 

5 

89,094 

29 

65,159 

28 

123.493 

11 

24.369 

131 

1.144.004 

134 

282,672 

52 

149,973 

68 

124,601 

30 

145,617 

17 

92,093 

12 

63,718 

17 

183,609 

76 

962.583 

62 

196.075 

43 

169.159 

15 

15.205 

^7 

603.084 

18 

68,849 

25 

118,554 

10 

7,035 

12 

11,340 

37 

75,834 

7 

7,735 

155 

1,919,377 

33 

89,882 

12 

27,008 

151 

472,120 

58 

139,828 

30 

88,883 

187 

|889,928 

10 

34,164 

15 

62.707 

19 

22.954 

1ft 

194.485 

102 

294.124 

7 

61.153 

10 

18,261 

31 

141,585 

34 

136.349 

31 

85,597 

50 

52.048 

7 

•  9.575 

Total. 

239,254 
51,812 
129,656 
1,350,826 
296.688 
332,366 
40,624 
246.622 
122,595 
335,895 
46,524 
2,244.639 
846.614 
631,375 
335,181 
327,825 
240,440 
126,910 
456,637 
2,213,337 
983,118 
676,433 
45,018 
1,557,343 
102,847 
386.393 
16,053 
54,243 
498,452 
19.095 
4,677,396 
170.893 
59,104 
2,211,176 
355,534 
264,102 
2,727,253 
166,924 
116,081 
55,851 
413,756 
794,91 1 
140.165 
51.279 
370,646 
451,454 
165,135 
456.155 
22,411 


Minimum 
space 
Morning. 

.14 

.1457145 
.1114286 
1.3324299 
.2242858 
.2271430 
.025 

.2207143 
.2587056 
.2585716 
.0914286 
1.1536718 
.5281076 
.2660715 
.2914287 
.2957146 
.1657143 
.1157143 
.2921430 
1.66' 
.2985716 
.2421644 
.07 

.8796430 
.2703574 
.1528573 
.0478572 
.0357143 
.1671430 
.025 
2.8264292 
.2114286 
,0725 
.9775 
.3335716 
.2192860 
1.9224798 
.0835715 
.14 

.1164287 
.2757143 
.8492865 
.1314286 
.0428572 
.32992^8 
.3607146 
.1842861 
.0917859 
.0464287 


agate  line 
rate. 
Evening. 

.4021434 
.2057148 
.2967866 
.2.2603761 
.5661777 
.4957150 
.065 
1.31 

.2571004 
.4525003 
;0992859 
2.9974918 
1.5322533 
.9483580 
.7432163 
.4262291 
.5920363 
.1195339 
.4171432 
2.3330805 
1.4314300 
.9546223 
.1385717 
1.5573231 
.1346429 
.5387144 
.1085717 
.1260716 
.9839294 
.0771431 
7.3177164 
,.3028581 
.1432144 
4.1877295 
.4728299 
.4413552 
3.3908310 
.3449998 
.1800002 
.1416289 
.3122859 
.9621161 
.1990858 
.08t8574 
.4206432 
.6923146 
.3588694 
.9410716 
.0642859 


Total. 


Q)  >-  03 

c  -a 
'3  = 


c  a 


.5421434 
.3514294 
.4082152 
3.5928060 
.7904635 
.7228580 
.09 

.5307143 
.5158060 
.7110719 
.1907145 
4.1511636 
2.0603609 
1.2144295 
1.0346450 
.7219437 
.7577506 
.2352482 
.7092862 
3.9930805 
1.7300016 
1.1967867 
.?'"'5717 
2.4369661 
.4050003 
.6885717 
.1564289 
.1617859 
1.1510724 
.1021431 
10.1441456 
.5142867 
.2157144 
5.1652295 
.8064015 
.6606412 
&.3133108 
.4285713 
.3200002 
.2580576 
.5880002 
1.8114026 
.3305144 
.1307146 
.7505720 
1.0530291 
.5431555 
1.0328575 
.1107146 


11 

7 

5 

43 

11 

5 

4 
11 
14 
5 
24 
16 
11 
11 
10 
6 
2 
3 
12 
11 
7 
6 
20 
il 
7 

6 

1 
28 
13 

2 
22 
21 
10 
14 

3 

6 

6 

6 
41 

3 

11 
14 
10 

7 

3 


Total' 

Sunday 

circulation 

175.394 

24.940 

88,198 

878.175 

233.457 

82,873 

221.232 
82.185 
345,085 
35,439 
1,387,620 
.269,214 
242,369 
131,657 
164,803 
252,479 
33,345 
319,199 
1,310,708 
446,933 
416,494 
18,225 
1,096,247 
'83,506 
224,791 
7,035 

72,834 

7,73S 

3,124,683 

130,478 

26,320 

737.142 

181,743 

178,519 

i.217,714 

59,263 

76,482 

22,475 

'259,545 

649.788 

85.015, 

1 66,456 

286,067 

95.902 

197,191 

9,575 


^^»J;«^7^2^6     10,271.137.    18,373.904    28,625,041 "  $19.2089220 


Sunday 
minimum 
agate  line 
.space  rate. 

.4082145 
.1457146 
.1564286 
1.7456441 
.4592878 
.1764286 

.48 

.2579002 
.5853574 
.1214286 
1.5560004 
.5182145 
.5089286 
.3057144 
.3280574 
.4471429 
.055 
.50 

.7571430 
.6571429 
.5R07144 
.12 
1.34 

>3228574 
.4057144 
.0478572 

.2161430 

.025 
4.S260715 

.3264286 

.09 
1.2832146 

.5486044 

.3614289 
2.1208 

.185 

.185 
.  .1064287 
.435 
1.3557438 
.1614286 

.3777858 
.6197145 
.2200003 
.3539287 
.0464287 


A.  B.  C.  circulation, 
Daily.       Sunday. 


197,134 
21,994 
88,411 
1,000,060 
223,730 
237,2.74 
40,624 
245,209 
77,744 
303.534 
17,551 
1,949.344 
597,927 
534,869 
214,850 
255,572 
(217.233 
60,799 
413,279 
4,852.258 
815.915 
611.742 
16.068 
1.417,870 
71.897 
322,616 
4,660 
24.439 
236,827 

3,021,971 
114.412 

47.651 
908,280 
198,542 
227,128 
1.546,210 
151,411 
102,949 

32,915 
362,455 
356.098 
100.341 
24,874 
245,783 
374,636 
70.752 
381.604 

4.982 


165,874 

10.072 

85,171 

838,373 

219,896 

67,484 

221,232 
.67.190 
335.139 
16.505 
1,782,612 
261,385 
180,099 
102,235 
150,033 
245,319 
20,232 
319.199 
1,311,586 
3.90,980 
414,742 
16,785 
1,077.932 
57,736 
219,188 


31.956 

1,941,498 
102,299 
26,320 
504.629 
1^4.195 
165.300 
1,279.042 
'59.263 
77.175 
19.558 
231.983 
343.987 
68.344 
24,874 
129.312 
262,456 
26,34] 
195.949 


M2,4280571    $61.6369793      503     16,056,580     $26.8110380.20,344,324     14.191.48r' 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     59 

a  considerable  intensive  campaign  of  the  kind  that 
produces  large  sales  could  be  carried  on  in  the  leading 
dailies  of  twenty-seven  big  cities  for  less  money  than 
would  be  needed  for  a  page  in  only  eight  of  our  lead- 
ing magazines.  All  of  the  newspaper  advertising 
would  be  joined  to  local  dealers,  and  reach  probably 
80  per  cent,  of  the  prospective  purchasers,  while  the 
magazine  space  would  be  scattered  like  shot-gun  fire 
at  the  whole  United  States  and  reach  maybe  5  or 
10  per  cent,  of  the  right  people  in  the  towns  where 
the  article  had  distribution,  and  even  then  without 
the  very  essential  dealer  relation. 

When  John  Jones,  our  local  dealer  in  men's  attire, 
advertises  in  our  local  paper  that  he  carries  some 
new  article  of  wearing  apparel  which  is  a  great  im- 
provement over  anything  of  the  kind  previously 
sold,  he  makes  a  far  more  direct  appeal  of  the  sort 
to  induce  me  to  purchase  than  when  the  same  article 
is  advertised  in  a  magazine.  I  may  want  the  article 
in  either  case,  but  one  is  a  statement  from  a  fellow- 
townsman  whom  I  know,  and  the  other  is  ''just  ad- 
vertising" and  involves  too  much  uncertainty  and  an 
effort  that  defeats  much  of  its  efficiency. 

Bill-board  and  paint-sign  advertising,  which  has 
enabled  many  men  to  grow  rich  on  the  plunder  taken 
from  those  seeking  advertising,  is  an  outrage  on  the 
scenic  beauties  of  our  cities.  Its  advocates  claim 
that  it  is  local  advertising,  but  very  seldom  can  it  be 
used  in  conjunction  with  local  dealers.  Our  big  local 
stores  use  such  methods  only  occasionally  for  a  flash, 
not  for  regular  selling  service. 

Our  modem  bill-board  solicitors,  in  order  to  pre- 
tend to  legitimatize  their  trade,  talk  ''circulation" 
for  their  alleged  medium,  counting,  or  rather  pretend- 


6o     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

ing  to  count,  the  number  of  people  who  pass  a  given 
point  as  "circulation."  Every  one  who  passes  in  a 
street-car,  automobile,  school-children,  those  who  can- 
not read,  and  the  blind  are  counted  in  their  so-called 
circulation.  If  our  newspapers  wanted  to'  match  up 
they  would  start  counting  their  circulation  with  those 
who  cut  the  wood  from  which  the  paper  was  made 
clear  through  to  final  carriers  of  the  box-board  into 
which  old  print  waste  finally  goes. 

Likewise,  street-car  advertising  falls  only  in  the 
general-publicity  class,  without  the  flexibility  or  com- 
plete covering  of  the  newspaper  advertising.  At  best 
it  catches  only  a  wandering  eye  cast  up  from  the  news- 
paper to  the  one  or  two  cards  that  happen  to  be  op- 
posite the  passenger.  Our  car-advertising  solicitors 
fail  to^  reveal  the  limited  number  of  cars  in  steady 
operation  and  the  small  range  of  passenger  vision  in 
any  one  of  them,  and  the  advertiser  pays  just  as  much 
for  space  in  cars  which  make  a  few  trips  a  day  during 
the  rush  hours  as  if  they  were  kept  busy  throughout 
the  twenty-four  hours. 

Newspaper  advertising  is  the  only  sort  which  is 
looked  upon  by  our  people  with  almost  as  much  inter- 
est as  the  daily  news  reports  in  their  newspapers,  pro- 
vided the  advertiser  uses  his  space  to  full  advantage. 
A  newspaper  gives  the  advertiser  admitted  to  its 
columns  the  right  to  address  regulariy  every  day  an 
audience  greater  than  could  be  crowded  into  all  the 
theaters  and  amusement-halls  in  its  town.  The  ap- 
peal can  be  made  as  loud  as  desired  by  huge  copy, 
or  as  quietly  as  preferred,  by  the  use  of  small  artisti- 
cally arranged  matter. 


IX 


Advertising  an  American  Product 

Newspaper  advertising  is  an  American  product. 
For  some  reason  newspaper  advertising  in  other 
countries  has  never  been  developed  as  it  has  been 
in  this  country.  1  The  greater  prosperity  of  the 
United  States  and  more  general  distribution  of  money 
here  may  partly  account  for  the  phenomenon. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  economic  experts  and  in- 
vestigators that  advertising  in  the  United  States  is 
one  of  the  primary  causes  of  the  high  cost  of  living, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  conclusive  proof 
that  advertising  by  increasing  traffic  and  turn-over 
reduces  selling  costs. 

In  England,  France,  Germany,  and  in  all  other 
countries  I  know  of,  advertising  still  continues  hide- 
bound and  stilted,  as  it  was  in  this  country  a  century 
ago.  Very  high  rates  maintained  by  newspaper  men 
perhaps  sounder  in  commercial  training,  but  certainly 
less  progressive  than  ours,  may  account  for  the  ab- 
sence of  growth. 

The  French  policy  of  printing  paid  reading  matter 
and  editorial  opinion  is  the  short  route  to  quick 
profit,  but  is  not  as  well  calculated  to  create  good- 

» See  article  from  the  London  Times  on  this  point  in  Part  VII. 


1 


I 

r 

I 


|! 


62      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

will  values  for  newspapers.  In  the  hands  of  un- 
scrupulous editors  the  border-line  between  decency 
and  honesty  and  corruption  and  blackmail  becomes 
very  famt  at  times. 

In  Germany  before  the  war  newspaper  advertising 
was  crude  and  unrefined,  with  huge  black  blotches 
announcmg  questionable  eating-places,  patent  medi- 
cmes,  and  cures.  The  better  classes  of  business  re- 
framed  from  competition  or  association  with  such 
advertisers." 

17'^^A^^^}^''^'  ^^"^  Selfridge,  formerly  of  Marshall 
l^ield  &  Co.,  of  Chicago,  endeavored  to  show  how 
to  boom  a  department  store  with  heavy  display  ad- 
yertismg,  and  it  is  reported  that  he  has  done  exceed- 
mgly  well;  but  the  English  business  man  has  been 
too  conservative  to  follow  suit. 

It  would  seem  to  me  that  those  operating  the 
newspapers  m  these  countries  are  more  to  blame  for 
the  lack  of  growth  of  advertising  than  the  advertisers 
A  newspaper  m  any  American  city,  conducted  as  the 
European  newspapers  are,  would  not  carry  much  copy. 

If  our  newspapers  had  adhered  to  the  hidebound 
methods  of  a  century  ago,  as  the  European  papers 
have  done,  our  rates  would  probably  be  as  prohibi- 
tively high  as  they  are  overseas.  Whether  or  not  lower 
rates  which  would  draw  the  European  advertiser 
from  his  shell  would  solve  the  problem  I  do  not  vent- 
ure to  say. 

None  of  the  American  newspaper  men  who  have 
ventured  to  enter  the  newspaper  business  abroad  have 
been  sound  enough  in  their  understanding  of  the 
basic  principles  involved,  or  probably  soHd  enough 
m  their  backing  and  support,  to  carry  through  the 
long  campaign  of  education  that  is  necessary. 


\ 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     63 

Bill-board,  paint  sign,  and  periodical  advertising 
has  been  highly  developed  and  successful  in  England, 
proving  that  human  nature  is  about  the  same  all  over 
the  world,  so  I  feel  reasonably  sure  that  it  has  been 
newspaper  practices  and  desires  that  have  held  Eng- 
lish newspapers  back. 

The  development  of  newspaper  advertising  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada  has  been  slow.  It  has 
taken  thirty  years  to  get  our  newspapers  out  of  the 
tame  surroundings  of  the  late  '8o's  to  the  full  glory 
of  the  present  day.  If  anybody  in  the  '8o's  had  tried 
to  reach  modem  practices  overnight  he  would  have 
met  with  the  same  defeat  he  would  meet  in  London 
to-day. 

Being  brought  up  in  the  old  school  myself,  I  sym^ 
pathize  with  those  unable  to  get  away  from  the  old 
rule-of -thumb  principle  that  advertising  rates  are  an 
arbitrary  exaction  regardless  of  cost  of  production 
and  whether  they  are  profitable  to  the  advertiser  or 
not. 

While  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  theory  that  ad- 
vertising is  a  by-product  to  be  sold  without  inter- 
ference with  the  business  of  publishing  the  news,  I 
am  certain  that  on  our  success  in  selling  the  by- 
product must  depend  our  ability  to  reach  our  best 
all-around  newspaper. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  arbitrarily  specifying  that  my 
rate  was  three  or  four  shillings  a  line,  I  should  go 
about  the  proposition  from  another  angle.  I  should 
estimate  my  total  expenses,  deduct  my  probable 
circulation  receipts,  and  divide  the  remainder  by  a 
Hberal  estimate  of  the  lineage  I  expected. 

If  my  circulation  was  about  200,000,  my  total  ex- 
penses, say,  £300,000,  my  circulation  revenue,  say. 


t 


64     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

£120,000  and  my  estimate  of  possible  lineage 
5,000,000,  I  would  fix  my  rate  at  one  shilling  per  line 
net,  and  then  go  ahead. 

^  If  the  advertising  is  estimated  to  be,  say,  3,000,000 
lines  a  year,  the  rate  must  be  increased  one  and  six- 
pence to  cover  cost  and  provide  the  same  margin  of 
profit. 

I  should  by  these  processes  have  a  talking  point  of 
greatest  possible  potency  in  my  solicitation  of  adver- 
tising, make  money  for  my  stockholders,  and  sell 
advertising  on  a  demonstrated  basis  which  long  ex- 
perience has  proved  is  profitable  to  the  advertiser. 

This  is  why  the  United  States  and  Canada  lead  the 
world  in  newspaper  advertising.  We  have  made  news- 
paper advertising  effective  by  making  its  use  at  fair 
prices  profitable  to  those  who  buy  it.  Many  have 
stumbled  into  the  place  they  now  find  themselves  in 
and  some  few  knew  whither  they  were  headed. 

It  might  take  months  and  it  might  take  years  to 
make  an  impression  on  merchants  and  others  in  old 
Europe,  but,  once  they  had  tasted  the  wonderful 
growth  they  could  secure  by  effective  newspaper 
advertising,  they  would  follow  the  example  of  Ameri- 
cans with  a  rush. 


P^RT  II 


•i  ( 


X 


Best  Type  of  Man  for  Advertising  Manager 

Given  a  newspaper  with  a  definite  proved  quan- 
tity of  circulation,  our  problem  is  to  secure  for  it 
as  large  an  advertising  earning  power  as  the  pos- 
sibilities of  its  field  provide.  The  best  type  of  man 
to  put  in  charge  of  the  promotional  w^ork  is  one  who 
has  had  the  advantage  of  the  broadest  possible  com- 
mercial and  merchandizing  experience. 

The  usual  product  of  newspaper-office  training  is 
impracticable  or  a  mere  space-seeker.  He  may  be  a 
good  slave-driver,  but  can  seldom  measure  up  to  the 
man  who  has  bought  and  used  much  advertising  and 
been  part  of  a  big  commercial  selling  organization. 
So  much  depends  upon  his  ability  to  secure  the  in- 
telligent co-operation  of  his  force,  to  train  them  to 
think  and  study  along  the  lines  of  making  the  adver- 
tisers' copy  produce  results,  that  he  must  be  able 
to  draw  on  his  own  experience  and  talk  as  an  au- 
thority. 

There  are  thousands  and  thousands  of  men  who 
have  had  big  department-store  training  who  would 
be  glad  to  shake  off  their  daily  grind  under  hard  task- 
masters and  take  up  the  much  more  interesting  and 
satisfactory  work  of  selling  advertising  for  a  news- 
paper. Some  of  these  would  make  ideal  advertising 
managers  and  solicitors.     They  know  advertising  as 


fe 


\ 


68      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

a  selling  force  and  can  be  depended  upon  to  do  their 
best  to  make  the  business  they  secure  profitable  to 
their  customers. 

Installed  as  advertising  manager,  the  right  man, 
after  a  survey  of  his  ground  and  a  careful  estimate 
of  the  soHcitors  he  inherits,  will  seek  to  reduce  the 
organization  to  an  effective  basis.  He  will  cover  all 
necessary  fields  of  revenue  with  men  who  know  the 
customers,  or  substitute  new  salesmen  he  has  con- 
fidence in. 

Having  been  through  the  mill  myself,  not  once  but 
several  times  as  advertising  or  business  manager,  I 
hesitate  to  advise  any  rule  for  all  cases.  There  are 
old  organizations  which  will  endeavor  to  kill  the 
efforts  of^  a  new  man  in  the  office,  and  others  which 
will  get  in  behind  him  as  they  would  never  work 
for  the  former  management. 

I  incline  to  the  idea  that  the  best  course  is  to  make 
the  force  recognize  that  the  new  manager  will  favor 
the  old  force  in  reconstructing  his  department,  but 
that  each  will  be  compelled  to  prove  that  he  is  a 
profitable  investment. 

This  can  be  done  by  making  each  man  fill  out  a 
card  like  the  one  on  page  70  for  each  of  his  cus- 
tomers, giving  a  record  of  the  business  from  each, 
and  a  report  showing  the  state  of  those  accounts  on 
which  he  is  still  working.  With  these  cards  in  hand 
each  man  can  be  induced  by  considerate  treatment  to 
prove  by  the  statements  he  makes  whether  he  is  a 
mere  salary-grabber  or  an  intelligent,  effective  sales- 
man. He  should  then  be  frankly  told  that  he  is 
effective  only  as  long  as  his  salary  represents,  say, 
10  per  cent,  of  the  net  to  the  office  in  new 
business. 


HARRY    MILHOLLAND 

Advertising  manager  of  the  Pittsburg  Press,  whose  motto  is,  "We'll  beat  the  world 

again  this  year." 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      69 


Description  of  Records  Used  in  Advertising  Dept. 


•t. 


I 


1 — Card  (3x5)  made  out  as  memorandum  of  clipping  given  solicitor, 
which,  in  addition  to  the  name,  address  and  line  of  business 
of  advertiser,  contains  the  name  of  solicitor  and  the  day  and 
date  he  received  cHpping.  This  card  is  kept  on  file  on  the 
manager's  desk  for  the  purpose  of  checking  up  report  on  every 
clipping  distributed. 

2 — Slip  on  which  solicitor  makes  report  of  call. 

3 — When  solicitor's  report  indicates  future  activity  of  an  assign- 
ment, details  are  indicated  on  card  which  is  placed  in  per- 
manent file  for  further  action. 

4— Sheet  on  which  solicitor  makes  a  report  of  the  amount  of 
business  done  on  such  of  his  assignments  as  have  appeared 
during  the  past  week. 

S~Contract  card,  (3x5)  on  one  side  of  which  is  indicated  the 
details  of  the  contract  and  on  the  reverse  side  of  which  is 
posted  each  month  the  amount  of  space  used. 


Advertiser 


Business 


Address 


Solicitor 


Day 


Date 


Form  No.  i 


I 


70      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


Account 


Address 


Business 


Whom  to  See  Direct 


Whom  to  See  Agency 


Will  they  use  the  Paper? 
When? 


What  did  they  say? 


Date 


Form  No.  2 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      71 


Permanent  file 


Advertiser 


Address 


In  Charge 


Advtg.  Agent 


Solicitor 


Date 


Form  No.  3 


I 


k 


72      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


SOLICITOR'S  WEEKLY  REPORT 
SOLICITOR  Date 


1917 


ADVERTISER 


Lines         Rate    Amount 


New  Contracts 


Expenses 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     73 


I 


Advertiser 

Agent 

Commenced 

Expires 

Rate 

Lines 

Remarks 

Form  No.  4 


Form  No.  5 — Front 


i 


74      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


i 


MONTH 


January- 


February 


March 


LINES 


April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

January 

February 

March 

April 



May 

June 

July 

■ 

August 

September 

October 

• 

November 

December 

TOTAL 

BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     75 

The  old  notion  that  as  long  as  an  advertising  solici- 
tor brought  in  more  business  than  his  salary  he  was 
profitable  has  gone  by.  Cost  figures  prove  that  it  is 
only  the  last  few  cents  of  any  dollar  earned  that  are 
profit.  So  an  advertising  solicitor  who  costs  50  per 
cent,  of  his  traffic,  except  in  rare  cases,  is  not  a  good 
investment  and  should  be  replaced  by  one  who  on 
the  year's  average  can  produce  on  the  10  per  cent, 
basis. 


Form  No.  5— Back 


I 


XI 


Relation  of  Manager  to  Rest  of  Force 

The  advertising  manager  should  be  able  himself 
to  sell  the  goods  he  is  seeking  to  market.  Unless  he 
can  do  this  and  occasionally  prove  it  his  men  will 
not  accept  without  reservation  his  directions  to  them 
for  seUing  the  same  goods.  I  am  a  great  believer 
in  the  rule  that  the  commanding  officer  should  be 
able  to  do  anything  he  asks  his  men  to  do. 

There  are  advertising  managers  who  pride  them- 
selves on  the  fact  that  they  seldom  go  out  to  see  an 
advertiser  or  call  on  advertisers  only  once  a  year  to 
renew  contracts.  Such  men  are  not  advertising  man- 
agers, but  rather  obstructionists  maintained  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  show  of  independence. 

The  advertising  manager  should  be  a  good  execu- 
tive, a  good  salesman,  a  good  mixer,  and  a  man  of 
sufficient  education  and  intelligence  to  understand 
at  least  the  big  purposes  of  his  newspaper  and  to 
keep  in  touch  with  all  the  worth-while  activities  it 
engages  in. 

He  should  be  on  cordial  terms  with  the  editor  and 
circulation  manager  and  work  in  the  closest  harmony 
with  the  business  manager  and  publisher.  Unless 
he  can  command  the  co-operation  of  every  other 
mm  on  the  newspaper  his  effectiveness  is  impaired, 


* 


ARTHUR    FREEMAN 

Advertising  manager  of  Gimbel  Brothers.  New  York,  for  three  years,  after 
having  previously  held  the  same  position  with  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.     A  pro- 
gressive, constructive  advertising  go-getter  of  the  first  water. 


iiAs 


k 


i 

I  III 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      77 

This  is  said  without  purpose  to  suggest  any  degree 
of  editorial  favor  as  a  stimulator  of  business,  but 
only  with  respect  to  advice,  comfort,  and  encourage- 

Tt*'is  well  enough  for  publishers  and  editors  to 
look  upon  advertising  managers  as  overpaid  enter- 
tainers who  commercialize  a  high  profession.  Ihe 
pubhsher  is  often  too  small  in  his  ideas  to  pay  large 
enough  salaries  to  secure  effective  men  The  chirf 
earning  end  of  any  business  usuaUy  pays  those  able 
to  produce  satisfactory  results  highest  rewards.  Why 
not  the  newspaper  business? 

The  advertising  manager  should  be  able  to  meet 
big  men  of  affairs  on  a  basis  of  equality.  Unless  he 
•sirall-around  man  of  good  experience  he  c^not 
hold  up  his  end  in  the  big  conferences  m  which,  by 
nuiu  up  „„„4-v,M-    Vip  should  get  mixed  up. 

one  process  or  another,   ne  snouiu  k^l  „rf^.l^„ 

The  cheap  man  appears  to  disadvantage  m  such  affairs 
Ind  s  Smated  iSgely  by  the  impression  he  creates. 
A  two-by-four  advocate  is  likely  to  make  the  news- 
oapei  he  Represents  look  like  a  mutilated  Mexican 
K,  where'a  hundred-per-center,  by  demonstrating 
a  masterful  grasp  of  things,  and  a  willingness  to  co 
operate,  can  frequently,  secure  for  a  tail-end  news- 
paper heater  consideration  than  the  top-notcher^ 
^  In  oSer  words,  it  is  desirable  to  employ  the  best 
Quality  of  service  available.    The  money  required  to 
Si  a  competent  executive  and  salesman  is  weU 
s^ent     If  our  newspapers  generally  adopted  a  sound 
SSicy  in  this  respect,  the  volume  of  newspaper  ad- 
vertising would  be  substantially  increased  and  all- 
IrS  relations  with  our  advertisers  put  upon  a 

^l?me°years  ago  I  came  across  an  advertising  man- 


78      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

ager,  who,  thinking  only  of  his  own  advancement, 
continually  sought  to  belittle  the  work  of  his  solici- 
tors, claiming  all  growth  and  new  business  as  his  own. 
He  did  not  get  very  far.  The  property  with  which 
he  was  connected  was  an  ultimate  failure  and  passed 
into  new  ownership.  Meanwhile,  solicitors  he  had 
employed  drifted  to  other  newspapers,  where  they 
came  through  to  high  recognition. 

This  manager  had  trained  them  effectively,  but  failed 
as  an  executive  through  depriving  the  producers  of 
their  just  rewards.  An  advance  of  five  dollars  a 
week  would  have  held  most  of  the  men,  but  he  rather 
sought  a  thousand-dollar  advance  in  his  own  salary 
as  more  to  the  purpose. 

Another  advertising  manager  made  the  same  mis- 
take, but  in  a  different  way.  This  fellow  was  a  cracker- 
jack  salesman  who  could  sell  practically  any  one  any- 
thing. He  failed  as  an  executive  because,  while  he 
would  show  a  soHcitor  how  to  close  a  piece  of  busi- 
ness and  permit  him  to  bring  the  negotiation  up  to 
the  closing  point,  he  would  jump  in  at  the  end  and 
close  it  himself.  His  fondness  for  taking  credit  for 
the  work  of  others  proved  his  own  undoing,  for  he 
failed  to  justify  the  maintenance  of  a  big  force  used 
only  to  raise  birds  for  his  own  gun. 

The  effective  advertising  manager  takes  more 
pleasure  in  having  one  of  his  men  close  an  account 
than  in  doing  it  himself.  He  will  gladly  help  the 
solicitor  make  a  contract  and  feel  the  glow  of  suc- 
cessful effort.  Good  management  is  shown  in  team 
work  with  star  performers  all  out  for  the  big  result 
for  the  newspaper  for  which  all  are  working. 

Whether  the  newspaper  is  a  small-town  daily  or  a 
huge  metropolitan  sheet  makes  no  difference;   much 


li 


/ 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      79 

of  its  success  and  prosperity  depends  on  the  contact 
between  those  who  sell  its  most  profitable  product 
and  the  publication  office.  The  advertising  manager 
must  be  able  to  sell  more  than  mere  space;  he  must 
sell  institutional  service  and  the  right  of  legitimate 
business  men  to  address  the  newspaper's  constitu- 
ency. 

No  man  incapable  of  fully  appreciating  the  broad 
purposes  back  of  any  worth-while  newspaper  should 
occupy  this  responsible  position.  When  confronted 
with  false  arguments  and  the  usual  plays  to  secure 
broken  rates,  the  advertising  manager  must  rise 
superior  to  mere  space-selling  and  convince  the  cus- 
tomer that  the  business  is  not  so  important  to  the 
newspaper  as  it  is  to  him  as  an  advertiser. 

In  casting  this  new  rule,  I  have  in  mind  the  sort 
of  work  being  done  by  a  large  nimiber  of  wonderful 
men  filling  such  positions.  In  many  cases  these  men 
are  performing  miracles  only  too  often  unappreciated 
by  selfish  and  ignorant  publishers  and  business 
managers. 

In  drawing  my  picture  I  have  especially  before  me 
the  work  of  three  men,  and  am  seeking  to  present 
a  composite  of  their  methods.  Wlien  we  get  close 
enough  to  penetrate  the  defensive  shell,  we  find  fel- 
lows so  keenly  interested  in  producing  results  for  their 
newspapers  and  their  advertisers  that  they  never 
realize  how  poorly  they  are  paid  for  the  service  they 
render. 

While  I  see  these  men  doing  remarkable  and  often 
novel  things,  I  see,  too,  publishers  of  other  papers 
seeking  men  who  can  do  the  same  class  of  work,  but 
unwilling  to  pay  enough  to  attract  the  talent  they 
require.     I  incline  to  the  conclusion  that  a  newspaper 


( 


l"l 


80     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

pubHsher  gets  about  the  quality  of  service  he  deserves. 
If  he  is  mean  and  narrow  he  is  apt  to  defeat  the  ef- 
forts of  an  effective  man  if  he  gets  him. 

One  Middle  West  newspaper  owner  recently  asked 
me  if  I  knew  a  good  man  to  take  charge  of  his  adver- 
tismg  department.  I  inquired  what  he  would  pay 
He  dodged  the  issue  by  saying  the  man  he  wanted 
must  have  confidence  in  the  future  of  the  newspaper, 
start  low,^  and  depend  upon  the  success  of  the  enter- 
prise for  increases. 

I  told  him  he  did  not  want  a  man  of  proved  ability, 
but  rather  sought  to  prove  out  a  lot  of  doubtful  tim- 
ber. The  simple  fool  expected  a  proved  man  to 
leave  a  sound  job  to  take  a  gamble  with  aU  the  cards 
stacked  against  him.  He  wanted  a  world-beater  for 
less  than  the  pay  of  a  good  soHcitor. 


XII 


Handling  the  Soliciting  Force 

In  organizing  an  advertising  department  probably 
no  two  men  will  exactly  agree  as  to  methods  and 
policy.  One  manager  will  contend  that  he  can  pro-^ 
duce  results  with  three  or  four  good  men,  while  an- 
other has  found  greatest  success  by  using  a  large 
quantity  of  cheap  men.  Then,  again,  the  possibilities 
of  a  field  have  much  to  do  with  the  sort  of  a  force 
required. 

Regardless  of  the  potential  of  the  newspaper,  I 
think  too  many  advertising  managers  err  in  failing 
to  appoint  an  assistant  to  be  on  the  job  in  case  of 
illness  and  also  to  help  the  solicitors  in  many  of  the 
situations  they  meet  during  the  year.  It  is  always 
well  to  have  some  one  in  touch  with  what  all  are 
doing,  ready  with  advice,  assistance,  and  support. 

In  taking  charge  of  a  department  I  would  carefully 
check  up  each  of  the  men  on  the  pay-roll  by  the 
methods  mentioned  in  Chapter  X,  Part  II,  and  ap- 
point the  best  on  record  as  assistant  advertising  man- 
ager. This  would  give  me  the  benefit  of  best  experi- 
ence, induce  this  man  to  renewed  activities,  and  make 
the  other  solicitors  hustle  to  prove  up  to  the  job  in 
case  the  man  elevated  failed  to  make  good. 

I  would  then  offer  moderate  prizes  every  week  or 


--!S:£aS-fl 


^  I 


J    :. 


82     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

every  month  to  the  man  producing  the  largest  value 
in  new  business  consistent  with  the  maintenance  of 
satisfactory  volume  from  old  accounts  in  his  hands. 
I  would  make  it  understood  that,  regardless  of  past 
regulations,  the  sky  was  the  limit  in  that  office  as  far 
as  salary  to  solicitors  was  concerned.  The  more 
money  we  pay  a  man,  if  he  earns  it  (and  it  is  our  busi- 
ness to  see  that  he  does),  the  more  valuable  he  is. 

This  is  the  spirit  to  get  best  results.  If  it  cost 
a  certain  percentage  to  carry  on  an  advertising  de- 
partment and  to  promote  and  develop  new  sources  of 
revenue,  it  is  far  better  to  be  liberal  with  the  men 
who  secure  the  business  than  to  train  and  develop 
them  and  then  see  them  skip  out  to  other  jobs  or 
go  into  business  for  themselves. 

I  know  of  one  publisher  who  is  so  mean  that  he 
is  forever  up  against  the  sheriff.  He  will  take  busi- 
ness at  practically  the  best  rate  he  can  get.  He 
would  rather  He  regarding  circulation  than  tell  the 
truth.  He  will  not  pay  any  advertising  man  over, 
say,  $20  a  week  and  everybody  else  in  proportion. 

A  number  of  years  ago  he  had  on  his  pay-roll,  at 
combined  salaries  of  less  than  $75  per  week,  three  men 
who  to-day  earn  better  than  $700  a  week.  Chance 
brought  this  combination  under  his  roof,  but  his 
meanness  shortly  shook  them  apart.  The  advertising 
manager  drew  $15  salary  and  a  commission. 

After  a  short  time  the  advertising  manager  got  the 
business  coming  and  his  commissions  amounted  to 
from  $30  to  $40  a  week,  whereupon  the  owner  kicked 
and  repudiated  the  arrangement  by  stating  that  he 
would  not  stand  for  any  payment  for  services  in 
excess  of  $25  a  week.  In  four  weeks  all  three  men 
had  gone  and  the  owner  can  have  none  but  unpleasant 


A.    G.    NEWMYER 

Business  manager  of  the  New  Orleans  Item.     An  advertising   man   of  wonderful 

constructive  ability. 


'• 


LU 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      83 

brcTshir^*  :i\^'  f^^'  ^^^"  ^^PP^"^d  to  his  mori- 
on to  ttat  tia'  '^  '""  ^"^'■^  ^-"gh  to  have  held 

oeneve,  as  I  have  said,  in  seek  ng  men  who  havp  Lri 

sound  commercial   training  in  Celling  merchandise 

There   are   plenty   of   drummers   who   are   bV^f '  f 

druniming"  and  anxious  to  settle  dow" a    home 

As  a  c  ass  they  are  accustomed  to  selUng  ^ods  as  c^ 

St'clSlT"^^''  ^"^  -^'^  hfSif  o?sre 
wnen  it  comes  to  discussion  of  rates. 

experience.     I    staked    him    fr.       '^/^^  ^  ^^^  of  his 
^xr^u'  J^cdKca   mm   lor  a  few  weekq'   trial 

Withm  a  month  he  was  a  st^^r   nr^^.trT      T  ^^' 

hide.  vvitnout  any  serious  injury  to  his 

Another  brilliant  star  was  produced  by  the  same 
methods  m  the  Middle  We<^t      tt«  ^         /    f  ® 

road  and  made  good  from  he  sfart  h/'^'V"^  '''' 
too  quickly  for  h^  own  wSl-belnf  He^'  Tt  1°°^ 
recognition  within  a  few  years  and  h,  ^^I'^^f* 
own  su         ,„,  ,,,,  earninTp^  "teStletct 

of  succetfuTuTe^^-     'r""'"  '"^'^t^^"  ^^-  ^ter  case 
Onr  !7  L       Of  ex-drummers  or  ex-salesmen 
Our  advertising  departments  offer  peculiar  Itfr^r 
tions  for  men  of  this  training.     We  want  repi  Lit 
and  not  -ere  copy-chasers%roducTS   he  ord™ 
newspaper  office.    A  good  job  that  will  enable  hto 
to  settle   down  looks   very  attractive  to  the   wel? 
qualified  traveling  salesman,  usually  away  from  £ 
family  most  of  the  time.  ^  '^ 


-m^- 


h\^ 


I 


84      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Herein  lies  our  greatest  opportunity  for  building 
up  an  organization  which  can  sell  space  on  a  business 
basis.  If  such  men  are  told  that  they  can  make  what- 
ever they  can  earn  on  a  sound  basis,  they  will  perform 
work,  under  competent  directions,  that  will  carry 
the  average  newspaper  owner  off  his  feet.  I  don't 
say  this  to  advance  a  theory,  but  to  record  actual 
experience. 

In  a  subsequent  chapter  I  shall  consider  the  use  of 
the  soliciting  force  in  connection  with  various  special 
activities,  from  the  stimulation  of  large  local  business, 
small  local  business,  special  efforts,  classified,  and 
foreign  advertising. 


XIII 

Demonstration  of  Paper's  Pulling  Power 

In  handling  my  force  of  canvassers  I  should  dis- 
courage what  I  have  called  copy-chasing,  that  hand- 
me-down  of  past  ineffective  advertising  solicitation. 
Of  course  we  must  clip  the  competing  newspapers  to 
note  what  the  other  fellows  are  getting  that  has  got 
past  us.  Likewise  we  must  try  to  get  that  copy  if 
we  hope  to  hold  our  job,  for  the  business  manager, 
publisher,  and  editor  watch  for  opportunities  to  ask 
nasty  questions. 

But  our  newspaper  is  not  worth  while  if  we  cannot 
solicit  business  confident  of  results  to  the  advertiser. 
If  it  does  not  and  will  not  produce  results,  we  are  not 
selling  advertising,  but  peddling  space.  Therefore, 
I  long  ago  made  up  my  mind  that  ads.  clipped  from 
other  papers  that  we  did  not  have  were  proofs  of 
our  paper's  ineffectiveness  or  of  poor  salesmanship. 

How  any  self-respecting  man  of  the  caHber  required 
by  an  advertising  manager  can  day  after  day  manage 
a  crew  of  men  who  take  money  from  advertisers  which 
he  knows  is  not  going  to  be  productive  I  cannot 
understand.  Such  work  is  more  in  accord  with  the 
gentle  arts  of  the  seller  of  fake  mining  and  oil  stock, 
the  bunco-steerer,  or  other  get-rich-quick  experts. 

According  to  my  theory  and  experience,  advertising 


-& 


III 


86      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

in  any  newspaper  can  be  made  profitable  at  a  price. 
While,  of  course,  the  advertising  manager  is  hired  to 
sell  the  space  of  the  newspaper  filling  his  pay-envelop, 
he  should  realize  that  his  work  must  come  to  naught 
unless  by  one  process  or  another  he  can  produce  re- 
sults for  his  customers. 

It  is  well  enough  to  assume  that  in  a  highly  com- 
petitive field  few  of  the  regular  big  advertisers  know 
exactly  which  papers  produce  the  results  they  get. 
But  sooner  or  later  solicitors  who  go  on  this  asstimp- 
tion  will  get  an  unwelcome  jolt.  There  are  ways  of 
checking  up  the  best  newspapers  and  spotting  the 
weak  sisters.  It  is  all  right  to  talk  off-day  and 
blame  the  copy,  but  our  friends  the  advertisers  make 
a  longer  range  test  than  a  day  or  a  week  and  can 
get  an  accurate  line  on  us  if  they  know  how. 

Not  many  years  ago  a  leading  merchant  in  New 
York  sprang  a  surprise  on  me  by  offering  to  use  a 
page  a  day  every  day  for  two  months  to  earn  a  cer- 
tain rate.  I  little  suspected  how  important  the  offer 
was  to  be  to  the  future  of  The  Globe.  We  closed  the 
deal.  While  running  the  page  a  day  with  us  he 
practically  discontinued  all  other  advertising.  I  was 
not  prepared  for  such  an  ordeal,  especially  during 
December  and  January. 

I  quaked  in  my  shoes.  To  expect  one  newspaper 
with  less  than  200,000  circulation  at  that  time  of 
year  to  fill  the  hole  made  by  cutting  off  others  with 
probably  1,000,000  daily  sales  seemed  too  much. 
But  we  made  good.  The  store  not  only  did  the  big- 
gest Christmas  business  in  its  long  career,  but  ran 
into  record  figures  during  January.  If  the  paper  had 
not  produced,  such  a  test  would  have  been  disastrous. 
But  the  paper  did  produce,  and  so  it  was  made  as  an 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      87 

advertising  medium,  and  ever  since  has  carried  the 
largest  volume  of  advertising  from  the  big  retail 
shops.  I  cite  the  incident  only  to  prove  my  point 
that  there  are  ways  of  checking  up  newspaper  pre- 
tense if  the  advertiser  thinks  it  worth  while. 

The  keenness  of  a  force  of  solicitors  can  be  in- 
creased so  much  by  demonstrations  of  their  paper's 
pulling  power  that  it  pays  to  go  after  them.  I  would 
ahnost  recommend  the  carrying  of  certain  business 
for  next  to  nothing  if  the  advertiser  would  let  me  make 
a  big  go  for  him  on  a  tail-end  newspaper  with  no 
record  of  achievement.  Then  if  my  paper  did  not  pro- 
duce I  would  discharge  the  whole  soliciting  force  until 
I  had  found  a  way  of  getting  results. 

After  I  had  found  the  way  I  would  so  fill  the  minds 
of  my  men  with  the  institutional  value  of  the  mediimi 
that  they  would  not  try  to  sell  a  single  ad.  (copy- 
chasing),  but  only  a  permanent  long-haul  relation 
with  the  newspaper.  Each  newspaper  soHcitation 
should  be  a  complete  demonstration  of  results.  A 
solicitor  should  stick  to  his  customer  until  he  gets 
provable  results  for  him. 

I  am  aware  that  these  suggestions  are  at  variance 
with  the  views  of  men  connected  with  well-estabHshed 
prosperous  newspapers.  They  don't  have  to  do  such 
things  and  naturally  feel  safe  in  their  leadership  if 
the  other  fellow  sticks  to  copy-chasing  of  ads.  clipped 
from  their  columns. 

Joseph  Pulitzer,  when  he  took  hold  of  The  New 
York  World  in  1883,  as  described  in  Chapter  IV  of 
Newspaper  Building,  did  not  depend  upon  copy- 
chasing.  Neither  have  any  of  those  who  have  really 
come  through.  If  we  at  The  Globe  office  had  depended 
upon  such  a  process  we  should  still  be  groveHng  in 


■nrTTmrn" 


mmik 


88     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  mud  instead  of  constantly  creating  new  business 
for  all  the  other  newspapers  and  leading  the  proces- 
sion in  many  important  lines. 

By  instilling  the  fighting,  constructive  spirit  into 
the  hearts  and  souls  of  your  soliciting  force,  your 
advertising  manager  will  fully  earn  his  keep  and 
render  invaluable  service.  As  I  said  before,  if  rates 
are  too  high  to  enable  the  newspaper  to  produce  re- 
sults, reduce  them  for  a  season  and  then  stiffen  them 
up  when  you  have  made  good. 

Too  many  of  us  look  upon  the  touching  of  adver- 
tising rates  as  we  would  the  handling  of  d3mamite. 
Not  so  with  the  merchants  to  whom  we  sell.  They 
are  used  to  changes  in  prices.  They  put  up  a  pretty 
stiff  fight  against  any  advance,  but  if  our  paper  pro- 
duces for  them  they  know  their  protest  is  in  vain 
and  that  a  temporary  withdrawal  of  their  business 
means  more  loss  to  them  than  to  us. 


XIV 


Consideration  of  Advertising  Rates 

In  the  formulation  of  any  effective  plan  for  the 
development  of  advertising  for  a  newspaper  not  yet 
enjoying  full-volume  copy  in  its  field,  the  basis  of 
rates  often  plays  an  important  part.  Only  too  fre- 
quently the  advertising  manager  is  up  against  the 
arbitrary  and  ignorant  ideas  of  some  foolish  owner. 
Regardless  of  failure  in  the  past,  such  an  owner  insists 
on  such  and  such  a  rate,  not  justified  by  circulation 
or  result-bringing  possibilities. 

As  indicated  in  previous  chapters  and  in  Chapters 
XXVII  and  XXXVIII  of  Newspaper  Building,  I 
am  not  a  believer  in  low  rates  or  broken  rates.  The 
rate  must  be  one  that  can  be  demonstrated  to  be 
fair,^  and  one  which  will  produce  results  to  the  ad- 
vertiser. Then  and  then  only  can  the  advertising 
be  sold  as  a  commodity  desired  by  the  business  men 
of  the  community. 

Determining  what  rate  should  be  asked  by  a  news- 
paper which  has  not  arrived  and  secures  only  a  small 
part  of  the  business  often  presents  problems  beyond 
the  comprehension  of  the  ordinary  newspaper  ex- 
ecutive.  He  is  incHned  to  base  his  rate  on  what 
others  are  getting  rather  than  to  ascertain  what  he 
should  ask  to  meet  local  conditions  and  put  his  prop- 


DAMAGED    PAGE(S] 


II 


90     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

erty  on  a  commercial  basis.  I  know  how  it  is,  for 
I  fo  many  years  worked  in  the  dark  and  wondered 
why.,  was  difficult  to  secure  for  my  paper  business 
that  uck,  while  others  got  and  held  it  without 
troul 
In 
first  ■ 
expen 
and  a 
depre* 
prefer 
which 


tablishing  a  rate  for  a  newspaper  I  would 
ike  a  careful  estimate  of  the  total  operating 
;  for  a  year,  with  full  allowance  for  circulation 
'ertising,  promotion,  and  for  interest,  taxes, 
tion,  replacement,  and  such.  Some  would 
•  charge  off  promotion  expense  to  investment, 
an  be  done  when  the  plan  of  financing  the 
enterpi  se  permits,  but  as  the  advertiser  gets  the 
results  )f  the  money  spent  in  promotion  we  are  not 
unfairly  transferring  a  burden  to  him  by  making  it 
a  part  of  our  cost. 

With  the  total  figure  before  me  I  would  calculate 
the  volume  of  advertising  carried  each  year  for  the 
last  three  years,  say,  3,000,000  Hnes.  Then  I  would 
estimate  the  total  value  of  space  printed  in  all  the 
papers  without  duplication,  say,  8,000,000  lines. 

Assuming  that  my  total  operating  expense  was 
$60,000  a  year,  I  should  divide  $60,000  by  4,000,000 
lines  (adding  a  million  lines  to  my  record),  and  find 
my  production  cost  to  be  i^  cents  an  agate  line,  or 
21  cents  per  inch.  This  cost  plus  a  manufacturer's 
profit  of,  say,  10  per  cent,  would  figure  1.65  cents  per 
line,  or  23.1  cents  per  inch,  as  the  average  rate  I  must 
secure  to  be  solvent. 

To  find  the  net  advertising  rate  per  line  during 
the  previous  year,  divide  the  total  earnings  by  the 
nimiber  of  charged  lines  printed.  Comparing  the 
result  with  the  cost  figure,  I  should  find  out  in  an 
instant  whether  the  rate  earned  dtuing  that  year 


FLEMING   NEWBOLD 

Business  manager  of  the  Washington  Star  and  Chairman  of  the  Bureau  of  Adver- 
tising of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers'  Association. 


'iW^f^ 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


91 


I 


Ji 


was  justified  or  not.  If  the  rate  was  too  high, 
there  are  ways  of  taking  advantage  of  the  situation 
to  secure  heavier  volume;  and  if  too  low,  there  are 
other  ways  of  bringing  it  up  without  disrupting  the 
whole  machine. 

Before  considering  ways  and  means  for  producing 
changed  conditions,  I  want  briefly  to  consider  what  is 
known  as   the  flat-rate  theory  compared  with   the 
sliding   scale.     There   are   strong   beHevers   in   both 
standards,  and  great  successes  have  been  scored  each 
way.     By  flat  rate  we  mean  a  fixed  rate  for  any  and 
all  space,  of  so  much  per  line  or  per  inch,  regardless 
of  volume  used  or  frequency  of  insertions.     By  sliding 
scale  we  mean  base  one-time  rates  for  various  classi- 
fications, with  discounts  for  time  and  space,  or  either. 
Theoretically  the  flat  rate  is  simpHcity  'itself  and 
whoUy  desirable  from  every  newspaper  standpoint.    rvJT* 
It  puts  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  advertising  space 
on  the  standardized  basis  of  street-car  fares,  packages 
of  chewing-gum,  and  such— one  or  a  thousand  at  the 
same  price.     It  encourages  the  small  advertiser  by 
giving  him  the  same  rate  as  the  department  store,  and 
permits  the  distant  general  advertiser  to  try  out  ex- 
perimental campaigns  without  assuming  the  obliga- 
tion of  a  contract  to  advertise  for  a  long  period  to 
earn  a  fair  rate.     Those  are  big  inducements  and  make 
easier  the  sale  of  space. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are,  it  would  seem,  very  ([>. 
serious  drawbacks  to  the  flat  rate  which  make  it  of 
doubtful  benefit.  Inasmuch  as  we  have  to  publish 
our  newspapers  every  day  in  the  year,  it  is  a  distinct 
advantage  to  have  in  our  safes  contracts  which  assure 
us  certain  definite  volume  throughout  the  year. 
Some  of  us  are  able  to  reduce  from  40  to  75  per  cent. 


.12^1^ 


92      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

of  our  total  advertising  to  this  basis.  These  con- 
tracts are  just  as  good  an  asset  as  so  much  money 
in  the  bank.  Some  may  fall  down  for  various  causes, 
but  the  larger  part  of  them,  probably  95  per  cent., 
will  be  carried  out  to  the  letter  like  any  other  con- 
tracts with  reputable  business  concerns. 

It  may  be  asked  what  would  happen  to  our  con- 
tracts in  the  case  of  a  huge  financial  depression,  when 
many  concerns  foolishly  curtail  advertising.  The 
answer  is  that  short-rate  collections  from  those  fail- 
ing to  earn  contract  discounts  would  partially  equalize 
the  loss,  but  in  any  case  we  should  be  better  off  than 
if  we  had  been  trading  on  the  flat-rate  basis,  when 
any  and  all  our  customers  could  stop  without  notice 
or  discussion.  There  is  practical  experience  to  prove 
the  point  in  a  nimiber  of  cities. 

In  one  town  I  have  in  mind  there  are  two  news- 
papers of  about  the  same  potential,  one  using  the 
flat  rate  and  the  other  the  sHding  scale.  The  de- 
pression of  1908  came  along  and  the  paper  with  the 
flat  rate  found  itself  nmning  with  bare  columns, 
while  its  competitor  continued  to  carry  a  reasonable 
voltime  simply  because  the  advertisers  had  to  go  on 
with  nominal  space  or  expose  themselves  to  heavy 
loss  through  short  rating.  This  may  or  may  not  be 
sound  economics,  but  I  believe  that  anything  that 
will  make  an  advertiser  advertise  can  do  him  no 
harm.  Too  many  of  our  advertisers  are  apt  to  get 
chilly  feet  for  imaginary  causes,  like  men  who  trade 
in  Wall  Street. 

In  other  words,  our  friends  the  advertisers  in  the 
town  referred  to,  instead  of  standing  by  the  man  who 
offered  them  the  advantage  of  the  flat  rate,  forsook 
him  in  the  storm,  and  he  suffered  for  his  own  liberality 


M 
^ 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     93 

and  fairness.  If  our  newspapers  were  endowed  in- 
stitutions I  should  be  a  strong  advocate  of  the  flat 
rate,  but  even  then  I  should  seek  by  experience 
tables  to  fix  that  flat  rate  at  a  much  higher  point 
than  my  estimated  cost  on  a  sliding-scale  basis,  in 
order  to  protect  myself  against  the  increased  risk 
involved  by  the  rights  given  the  advertiser. 

I  believe  the  thory  of  a  flat  rate  fixed  on  a  higher 
costing  basis,  with  a  discount  to  be  earned  at  the  end 
of  each  year  in  the  way  of  a  reasonable  or  small  re- 
bate for  full  copy,  might  work  satisfactorily.  A  10 
per  cent,  rebate  would  be  quite  an  inducement  for  a 
man  to  stick  through  an  off  season  with  as  much 
business  as  he  gave  to  a  competitor  with  regular 
contracts.  It  would  be  a  mere  question  of  pad-and- 
pencil  figuring  for  the  buyer  and  we  could  trust  him 
to  see  the  advantage  of  using  the  space  if  the  rebate 
offset  what  he  thought  he  could  save  by  taking  out 
his  business. 

It  is  well  to  consider  one  other  disadvantage  in  the 
flat-rate  program  for  an  existing  newspaper.  It  is 
next  to  impossible  to  get  the  big  users  of  space  to 
stand  for  an  arbitrary  advance  in  rates.  It  is  all 
right  for  the  little  fellows  who  get  the  advantage, 
but  when  it  comes  to  showing  the  large  stores  what 
they  gain  by  paying  as  much  as  the  man  who  buys 
a  single  inch,  the  job  is  a  hard  one.  Unless  your  pres- 
ent rate  is  too  high,  it  is  well  to  approach  cautiously 
so  radical  a  step. 

Nearly  all  advertisers  buy  their  stocks  on  quantity 
basis.  They  expect  a  better  price  for  goods  bought 
by  the  car-load  than  by  the  dozen.  They  like  to 
sell  on  the  unit  basis,  but  buy  most  readily  where, 
through  exercise  of  large  purchasing  power  and  turn- 

8 


n 


94      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

overs,  they  can  earn  discounts  and  allowances. 
From  my  viewpomt,  the  man  who  will  contract  to 
use  two  columns  every  day,  150,000  lines  in  a  year 
and  so  on,  is  entitled  to  a  lower  rate  than  one  who 
merely  uses  space  occasionally  at  his  convenience 
and  generally  at  seasons  when  the  pressure  of 
other  busmess  is  most  severe.  The  transient  user 
should  pay  a  much  higher  rate,  for  we  could  not 
maintain  the  medium  for  him  without  the  support 
ot  the  steady  advertisers. 

The  transient  should  pay  two  or  three  times  as 
high  a  rate  as  the  contract  advertiser.  The  one-time 
advertiser  should  be  discouraged,  for  he  is  of  the 
type  that  expects  to  get  rich  quick  by  a  single  insertion 
and  should  be  guarded  from  his  own  foUy  by  the  in- 
tervention of  a  prohibitive  rate.  The  flat  rate  makes 
the  use  of  space  as  Hquid  as  water  from  the  faucet 


XV 


Making  the  Rate  Card 

The  making  of  a  rate  card  which  will  produce  the 
average  net  rate  we  must  have  is  more  like  the 
actuarial  work  for  a  life-insurance  company  than  any- 
thing else.  There  are  flat-rate  newspapers  supposed 
to  get  the  same  price  from  all  comers,  which  do 
nothing  of  the  sort,  those  which  at  least  try,  and  those 
which  would  like  to  do  so.  With  the  best  of  them 
inconsistencies  develop.  For  example,  the  theaters 
may  pay  more  than  others,  political  advertising  a 
shade  more  than  run  of  paper,  and  so  on  down  the 
line;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  large  users 
sometimes  have  been  known  to  get  allowances. 

^  I  say  these  unkind  things  only  to  show  the  desira- 
bility of  fixing  fair  and  just  variations  of  rates  for 
different  volumes  and  kinds  of  business,  rates  which 
can  be  maintained.  It  is  comparatively  easy  and  it 
is  equitable  to  establish  and  rigidly  enforce  rates 
which  can  be  justified  as  sound.  I  know,  for  I  have 
sold  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  space  under 
widely  differing  conditions  and  studied  conditions  in 
nearly  all  our  leading  cities. 

It  is  a  comparatively  easy  thing  to  secure  a  record 
showing  the  volume  of  business  done  in  a  year  by 
those  in  highly  generalized  lines.     If  the  data  do 


96     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

not  exist,  it  is  high  time  they  were  dug  out  or  some 
system  started  to  keep  tabs  on  the  use  of  space 
hereafter  for  future  analysis.  In  New  York  we  keep 
records  of  these  subdivisions  for  each  of  our  news- 
papers : 


Amusements 
Art 

Automobiles 

Boots  and  Shoes 

Building  Material 

Candy  and  Gum 

Charity  and  Religious 

Deaths 

Druggists'  Preparations 

Dry  Goods 

Financial 

Food  Stuffs 

Furniture 

Hotels  and  Restaurants 

Instruction 

Jewelry 

Legal 

We  also  keep  record  of  : 


^Men's  Furnishings 
Miscellaneous 
Musical  Instruments 
Newspapers 

Non-intoxicating  Beverages 
Office  Appliances 
Proprietary  Medicines 
Public  Service 
Publishers 
Railroads 
Real  Estate 
Resorts 
Sheriff  Saies 
Steamships  and  Travel 
Tobacco 
Wants 
Women's  Specialty  Shops 


Total  National  advertising 
"     Local 
"     European 
"     Brooklyn 
"     Harlem  &  Bronx 
"     New  Jersey 

For  the  purpose  of  my  calculations  in  arranging  a 
new  rate  card  I  should  want  not  only  a  table  of  my 
own  newspaper  record,  but  another  showing  the  total 
volume  of  each  kind  of  business  in  any  other  news- 
paper  in    the    same   town.     This  would  show  my 


I 


ESTABLISHED  1841 

Every    Afternoon    Except    Sunday 

3  Cents  a  copy  $8.00  a  year 

MEMBER   A.   B.   C. 


ISSUED  AUGUST  1.  1918 
EFFEQTIVE  AUGUST    1,    1919 


JDISPLAY  RATE 

7c.  Flat 

PER  AGATE   LINE 

PREFERRED  LOCATION. 

Pages  2  or  3,  If  available,  33  1-^  per  cent, 
additional. 

Pages  2.  3,  4  or  5,  publisher's  option,  2G 
per  cent,  additional. 

POSITION  CHARGES. 

Next  reading  matter,  15  per  cent,  -addi- 
tional. 

First  following  and  alongside  reading,  25 
per  cent,   additional. 

Advertisements  ordered  In  full  position 
must  be  at  least  2S  lines  deep.  > 

CLASSIFIED  ADVERTISING. 

Wanted,  For  Rent,  For  Sale,  Etc.,  act  In 
«oIld  nonpareil,  one  cent  a  word  each  in- 
sertion, minimum   20  cents. 

READING  NOTICES. 

Readtns;  Notices,  body  type  (minion)  with 
letters  "Adv."  attached,  50  cents  per  count 
line,  eacb  insertion.  Headlines  to  count 
double. 

Reading:  Notices  (nonpareil)  with  "Adv." 
attached,  25  cents  per  count  line,  each  In- 
sertion. 500  lines  used  within  one  year,  15 
cents  per  line.     Headlines  to  count,  double. 


Reproduction  of  the  Rate  Card  of  the  Hartford  Times. 


i 


1 


d 


ffl 


INFORMATION. 


Aprate  measure- 
Column  width  12  1-2  cms. 
306    lines    to    a    column, 
2,44g    lines     in     a     page, 
I  8    columns    to    the   page. 

.l.^r^r*"*'/'*  "«^«*i»*<^«  'or  one  yenr  from 
«late  of  contract. 

No  contract  will  be  made  for  display  ad- 
vertising  occupying  .less  than  14  agato  lines. 

Advertisements  must  be  one  inch  deep  for 
every  column  in  width. 

I-wfh^^'VT"^   Times   does   not   publish    on 
lojith   of  July.   Thanksgiving.  Christmas. 

.  n'-^"*!,!!"??^"**  """^  accepted  for  first,  ikst 
and  editorial  pages. 

No  telegraphic  reader  advertising  accepted 

m^^Vo.T^^'"''^?^   schemes   and   objectionable 
medical  advertisements  not  admitted. 


per 


^^Commlsslon    to  advcrttslns  agents,   15 
CnNh   dl«coant  of  2  per  cent.  Rfvcn   «„   nil 


POPULATION. 

nartford^ieiO  Cenaas.  08,915. 

Eatlmatcd    1918.    125.000. 

Hartford  and  Tradln*  Territory.  250.182. 


220  rtfih  Ave., 
New  York. 


SPECIAL  REPRESENTATIVE 
KELLY-SMITH   OQ.. 


Idg.. 

£j 


Second  Page  of  the  Rate  Card  of  the  Hartford  Times. 


I 


The 
Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin 

Established  1847 
PUBLISHED  DAILY.  EXCEPT  SUNDAY 


Advertisin**  Rates 

(Agate  meaaurement,  14  lines  to  Inch) 

Di'cnloAr/ Display  advta.  should  mea»-\j.n-  _  ]i*n*» 
ISpiayj  lire  at  least  10  lines J^^^C  3  line 

Fll  ri      •    •        (I'    required    and   can"»  rr\       i* 
Ull  rOSltlOn{begranted(flr8lfollow->5Uc  aline 
I  ing  and  next  reading) .  ) 

nr*  Semi-reading  advertisements  occupying  full  position 
If  accepted,  55  cents  a  line. 

No  time  or  space  discounts. 

Full  position  advts.  should  measure  not  leas  than  three  Inches 


1.  AH  contracts  are  made  for  one  year:  no  written  or  verbal 
conditions  allowed  not  fully  set  forth  on  rate  card  and  all  adver- 
tisements are  at  Publisher's  option. 

2.  Claims  for  errors  to  be  made  within  10  days  after  first 
Insertion  of  advt.  or  no  adjustments  can  be  made. 

'3.  Stvle  of  tvpe,  cuts,  borders,  and  setting  of  all  advts.  In  all 
cases    otlonal  with  the  publisher. 

4.  Seml-reading  advts.  occupying  full  position,  set  lii  8-polnt 
type  and  billed  for  space  actually  occupied.  All  seml-reading 
advertisements  to  contain  signature  and  address. 

5.  Eight  columns  (12^  ems  each)  to  page.  Length,  297  agate 
lines,  or  21  >^  Inches.    Make-up  from  lower  half  of  page. 

6.  No  extra  charge  for  cuts  or  broken  columns.  Limit  for 
broken  columns  as  follows:  Two-column  advts.  not  less  than 
35  lines,  three  columns  not  less  than  70  lines,  four  columns  not 
less  than  100  lines,  five  columns  not  less  than  125  lines,  six  or 
more  columns  not  less  than  150  lines  deep. 

Classified  Advertisements 

Amusements 

Financial 

New  Publications 

Political 

Travel 

Agents  Wanted 
Real  Estate  and 

other  business 

wants 

Co-Partnershlps 
Dissolutions 
Dividends 
Lesal  Notices 
Meetings 
Proposals 
Special  Notices 
Survey  Notices 

Help  Wanted  \ 

Lost  and  Found  > 

Religious  Notices       \ 

Educational  \ 

Resorts        '  ( 


.40  cents  a  line 


plain  type .-..30  cents  a  line 


In  plain  type ,25  cents  a  line 


20  ccnts'a  line  each  insertion. 

15  cents  a  line  each  Insertion. 

(In  Plain  type) .  25  cents  a  line,  30  dally 
or  E.  O.  U.  insertions,  20  cents  a  line. 


Marriages  and  Deaths.  S3.00  first  Insertion,  $1.00  each  subse- 
quent Insertion  of  same  notice. 

Readinc  NotU-es  (set  In  Acate,  marked  "Advt."),  first  page, 
$4,00  per  agate  Hue:   other  pages,  S3.00  per  agate  line. 

Phila.,  Marcli  1.  1916  WILLIAM  L.  McLEAN, 

Publisher 


Washington,  D.  C 


1— GENERAL  DISPL/kY—FLAT  RATE 

No   Tim©   or  Space   DlscDunt 

17c  a  line 
13c  a  line 

-25c  a  line. 


PabUshed 

Bvenlnss  and 

Sunday  Morning's 

Rate  Card  No.  1 
Issued  Nov.  15,  1918 
In  Effect  Jan.  1,  1019 


^i\t  &uttbag  g>tar 


Planogravure  Picture   Sectlon- 
(See  Special  rate  Card.) 

PREFERREIJ   POSITIONS 

When  available — top  oi'  column  next  to  reading 
matter  7%c.  per  line  add  tlonal;  next  to  and  follow- 
ing reading  matter  5c.  per  line  additional;  next  to 
reading  matter  2i^c.  per  line  additional.  No  position 
advertisements  accepted  less  than  28  lines.  Bingle 
column. 


Advertisements  will  be  accepted  when  space  Is 
available,  to  run  on  page  2,  or  3  at  6c  per  line  addi- 
tional; pages  4  or  5,  2Hc  per  line  additional,  and 
on  last  page  50%  additional  to  advertising  rates. 

BROKEN  COLUMNS:  No  extra  charge  for  broken 
columns.  Double-column  advertisements  must  not 
be  less  than  42  lines  deep;  3  columns,  76  lines  deep; 
4  columns,  100  lines  deep;  6  columns,  126  lines  deep; 
6  columns  or  more,  160  Hnes  deep. 


2— CLASSIFICATIONS 

Classified  Advertisements  such  as  Agents,  Sales-     o        *      t-  j 
men,  Help  Wanted,  Business  Opportunities,  etc..     ^'T'''    Educational, 
3  cents  a  word  each  insertion,  15  words  minimum         Steamships,   Real   Estate, 
charge.  ^^ 


(Display  Advertising  at   Display   Rates) 


RATE  PER  LINE 

(4  lines  min.) 
1  time,  17c;  3 
times,  14c;  7 
times.  12c;  14 
times  or  more, 
lie;  1  month,  30 
times  consecu- 
tively, 10  %c:  2 
months,  60  times 
c  o  n  8  e  cutively, 
10c. 


3— READING  NOTICES                    Per  Agate  Litre 
Reading  notices  in  body  type $1.00 


Reading  notices  in  agate  type. 
No  readers  accepted  for  first  page. 


.60 


Imitation  reading  matter  within  a  border— 25c  a 
line. 

(All  reading  notices  must  be  marked  "Adver- 
tisement.") 


4 — COMMISSION  AND  CASH  DISCOUNT 

Agency  Commission,  12  per  cent.      Cash  discount,  3  per  cent. 


All  transient  advertisements  cash. 


Cash  discount  date,  20th  of  month 
following  insertion. 


5--MECHANICAL  REQUIREMENTS 


Width  of  column— 12 J^  en"  5 pica. 
Elepth  of  column — 305  lines, 
21^  inches.  Eight  columns  to 
the  page. 


Basis  of  measurement  is  solid 
agate— 14  lines  to  the  inch. 
Display  ads   must  occupy  not 
less  than  14  lines — 1  inch. 


Can  use  mats. 

Half-tone  screens  required,  65. 


6 — CIRCULATION 

A  Member  of  the  A. 
B.  C. 


Date  of  Statement 


For  Period  Ending 

^6   month   ending 

Sept.  30,  1918 


Circulation 

Daily.  96,911 

Sunday,  74,350 


7— -MISCELLANEOUS 

Advertising  subject  to  approval. 

Established  1852. 

Subscription   Price — Daily,  2c   per  copy,  $6.00 

year. 

Sunday,  5c  per  copy,  2.40  year. 


Evening  Star  Newspaper  Co.,  Publishers. 
Frank  B.  Noyes,  President.. 
Fleming  Newbold,-  Business  Manager. 
New  ,York    Representative,    Dan    A.    Carroll, 
Tribune  Bldg. 

Chicago  Representative,  J.  E.  Lutz,  First  Nat'! 
Bank  Bldg. 
{Prepared  in  conformity  with  "Standard  Rate  Card"  of  American  Attociati^  of,Advertiting  AgenttJ 


Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin  and  Washington  Evening  and  Sunday  Star  Rate  Card. 


GENERAL 
ADVERTISING  RATES 


OF 


The 
Chicago  Daily  News 


13  North  Fipt:h  avenue. 


CHICAGO. 


GENERAL  EASTERN  OEFICS: 


Room  710  Times  Building,  New  York  City 


Represented  by  all  Responsible  Advertlsinsr  Agents 


In  Effect  January  1,  1917 


Form  2490S— Gen. 
Reproduction  of  the  Rate  Card  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News. 


} 


SCHEDULE  OF 
GENERAL  ADVERTISING  RATES 

DISPLAY  RATES 

Per  afirate  line,  per  insertion $0  50 

1,000  lines  or  more  within  1  year  .       .       .       !  43 

orr,?»?f^*^^-^^^  ^^  ^  contract  may  terminate  it  when  the 
Um    th       ^i^P^^y  SP^<^«  specified  has  been  used,  or  at  any 

SPECIAL  DISPLAY  CLASSIFICATION  RATES 
NO  DISCOUNTS 

Amusements,  per  agate  line,  per  insertion       .       .  $0  55 

Automobiles,    *'       "         "        ....                       ^  '^^ 

Financial.         '       *•          ••                '       *  \^ 

Publishers  (except  newspapers).        "...  36 


Reading-  Notices,  per  nonpareil  line,  marked  "adv." 
Business  Topics.    " 

•  •  •  • 

Business  Mention,  per  agrate  line 
Special  Notices,        


$2.00 
.75 
.50 
.45 


SPECIAL  CLASSIFIED   DISPLAY  RATES 
WITH  TIME  DISCOUNTS 

Resorts  and  Travel  (including  Hotels  and  Restau- 
rants) 1  time $0  V 

30  consecutive  insertions,  not  less  than  twice  a  week       30 

Schools  and  Colleges,  l  time \f: 

30  consecutive  insertions,  not  less  than  twice  a  week    [30 
Once  a  week  one  year %a 


Regulations  Governing  the  Sale  of  Advertising  Space 

Changes  of  matter  will  be  made  whenever  desired  with- 
out extra  charge,  provided  the  copy  is  delivered  at  The 
Daily  News  counting  room  before  9  P.  M.  preceding  the  day 
of  publication.  The  number  of  insertions  to  be  given  it  the 
day  or  days  on  which  it  is  to  appear,  the  advertising,  if  any 
which  it  is  to  replace,  and  the  number  of  lines  it  is  to  make' 
must  be  stated  in  writing  on  the  copy.  If  the  advertiser 
at  any  time  fails  to  furnish  copy  and  directions  for  the 
regular  and  uninterrupted  insertion  of  his  advertisement 
on  a  contract  for  a  specined  number  of  insertions,  it  is  un- 
derstood and  agreed  th.it  the  last  copy  furnished  and  the 
space  therewith  ordered  shall  be  repeated  until  new  order 
and  copy  are  given  as  above  stated.  Verbal  orders  or 
orders  by  telephone  will  not  be  accepted. 

Notice  of  typographical  errors  must  be  given  in  time 
for  C9rrection  before  the  second  insertion,  otherv/ise  no 
repetition  of  publication  shall  be  claimed  or  allowed 


I 


R^te  Card  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News  (Continued), 


ERRORS  IN  ORDERS 

Agents  and  regular  customers  are  advised  that,  to  avoid 
delay  and  annoyance  to  them,  the  forwarding  of  an  order 
will  be  construed  as  an  acceptance  of  all  the  rates  and  con- 
ditions under  which  advertising  space  is  at  the  time  sold  by 
the  paper.  A  failure  to  make  the  order  correspond  in  price, 
or  otherwise,  with  the  schedule  in  force  will  be  regarded 
only  as  a  clerical  error,  and  publication  will  be  made  and 
charged  for  upon  the  terms  of  the  schedule  in  force,  with- 
out further  notification. 


POSITION 

No  special  location  will  be  assigned— all  locations  areal 
the  option  of  The  Chicago  Daily  News  Co. 

Two  or  more  separate  advertisements  by  the  same  ad- 
vertiser are  not  considered  us  one  announcement,  and  are 
not  guaranteed  location  in  adjacent  columns,  but  are 
treated  as  distinct  advertisements. 


CUTS.  HEAVY  TYPE.  ETC. 

Cuts  and  electrotypes  must  be  on  flat  metal  base. 

In  display  advertising,  illustrative  cuts  on  flat  metal 
base,  designs,  heavy  faced  type,  borders,  etc..  subject  to  the 
approval  of  The  Chicago  Daily  News  Co.  and  space  without 
column  rules  may  be  used  by  the  advertiser  so  long  as  they 
are  permitted  in  the  columns  of  the  paper  to  any  other 
advertiser,  but  the  advertiser  must  assume  all  risk  of  the 
cut  not  printing  distinctly  in  the  paper. 

The  Chicago  Daily  News  Co.  reserves  the  right  to  out- 
line or  tool  engrave  any  cut  or  part  of  cut  or  white  letters 
on  solid  black  background  which,  because  of  its  size  and 
unusual  blackness  of  face,  is  regarded  by  it  as  a  disfigure- 
ment of  the  paper. 

Any  fraction  of  aline  upon  cuts  or  electrotypes  in  excess 
of  space  named  in  orders  will  be  charged  for  as  one  line. 

The  style  of  type  and  setting  shall  in  all  cases  be  within 
the  discretion  of  The  Chicago  Daily  News  Co. 


COMPOSITION 

No  column  rule  is  omitted  from  an  advertisement  in 
THE  DAILY  NEWS  less  than  fifty  lines  deep,  nor  two 
column  rules  for  less  than  seventy-flve  lines  deep,  and  a 
larger  number  in  same  proportion,  except  advertise- 
ments, seven  and  eight  columns  wide  which  must  be  at 
least  one  hundred  and  (ifty  lines  deep. 

Any  advertisement  more  than  one  column  wide  must  be 
of  uniform  depth  in  all  its  columns. 

Reading  matter  has  "adv."  appended  to  final  line  of  all 
articles  or  parayrraphs  measuring  30  lines  or  less,  and 
(ADVERTISEMENT]  preceding  all  articles  or  paragraphs 
measuring  more  than  30  lines. 


Rate  Card  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News  (Continued). 


tt 


! 


SPACE  LIMITATIONS 

No  display  advertisement  is  counted  less  than  five  lines 
*'''%''«V?r*''^'f  ^^r'^*^'?  display,  which  may  be  two  Sis' 
than?hSnes  ^<*^«">sement  on  contract  Is  counted  ?ess 

as  a'i'un%'iS?i7e;rh'^  ""^^  *"  ^^^^^  ^"  ^^"^^^<^  o"'^' 

The  Chicagro  Daily  News  Co.  reserves  the  right  to  de- 

clmeanyadvertisement  forany  griven  issue  whether  offered 

w^th^THE  nilfv  k'A^^  ^i'^^"i  ^'^  advertisiif  Contract 
witn  1  HE  DAILY  NEWS  when  the  space  allotted  to  adver- 

tising  in  that  issue  has  all  been  taken  by  other  advertisers 
are  no^accepSd"'"  """"^^  '^  ""^^^  ^^^°^^  column  rules 
The  Chicagro  Daily  News  Co.  reserves  the  rig-ht  to  revise 
or  reject,  at  Its  option,  .any  advertisement  which  it  deJml 
objectionable,  either  in  its  su^bject  matter  or  phraseoloFy 

MEASUREMENT 

««o'^5fl  standard  for  Display,  Special  ^fotices  and  Busi- 
ness Mention  is  agrate.  14  lines  to  one  inch,  and  of  Business 
Topics  and  Reading  Matter,  nonpareil.  12  lines  to  one  inch 
Ihe  column  width  is  25  ems  nonpareil,  or  12H  ems  pica 
w^hich  equals  2  1-12  inches.    8  columns  of  305  agate  lines  to  a 

CONTRACTS 

It  is  expressly  understood  and  agreed  • 
>-,•  J;  ."^"^^  "^.^^  Chicago  Daily  News  Co.  reserves  the 
right  to  cancel  a  contract  at  any  time  upon  default  by  the 
advertiser  in  the  payment  of  the  monthly  bilfs.  or  in  the 
eyentof  any  persistent  violation  on  the  part  of  the  adver- 
tiser of  any  of  the  conditions  herein  named,  and  upon  si>ch 
^^"F,^i'^^*°"  ^^'  advertising  done  thereunder  and  unpaid 
shall  become  immediately  due  and  payable 

2.  That  the  advertiser  shall  do  a  substantial  amount 
or  advertising  under  a  contract  duringevery  period  of  thirty 
days  within  the  time  herein  limited,  and  in  the  event  of  the 

i' ,,^,f  °^  theadvertisersotodo.TheChicago  Daily  .VewsCo 
Shall  have  the  right  to  cancel  the  contract  without  notice" 

3.  ihat  If  at  the  end  of  the  advertising  period  named 
or  upon  a  prior  termination  of  a  contract  for  any 
cause.  It  shall  appear  that  the  advertiser  has  not  used  adver- 
tising to  the  full  amount  ordered,  the  advertiser  shall 
pay  to  Ihe  Chicago  Daily  News  Co.  such  additional  sum 
on  each  and  every  line  of  advertisintr  so  done  as  shall 
be  equal  to  the  difference  between  the  price  applicable  to 
the  amount  of  advertising  ordered  and  the  priceapplirable 
to  the  amount  of  advertising  actually  so  done  accordin<'  to 
the  above  schedule  of  advertising  rates,  and  upon  such 
expiration  or  termination  said  additional  sum  shall 
become  immediately  due  and  payable. 

n^v,  *V,J^^^  ^"r^  statement  rendered  to  the  advertiser  by 
The  Chicago  Daily  News  Co.  shall  be  conclusive  as  to 
the  correctness  of  the  items  therein  set  forth,  unless  the 
advertiser  shall  in  writing  call  the  attention  of  The  Chicago 
Daily  News  Co.  to  any  alleged  inaccuracies  in  such  state- 
ment within  ten  days  from  the  rendering  thereof,  and 
receive  from  The  Chicago  Daily  News  Co.  a  written  ackno wl- 
edgment  of  such  complaint. 

5.  That  during  the  life  of  a  contract  all  adveftisintr 
done  thereunder  shall  be  paid  for  at  the  office  of  The  Chicago 
Daily  News  Co.  not  later  than  the  flfieenih  day  of  the  month 
following  that  in  which  the  advertising  is  done 

6.  That  no  verbal  changes  or  modiQcations  of  thes" 
conditions  will  be  recognized. 


Rate  Card  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News  (Continued), 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     97 

weak  points  and  the  total  would  prove  the  total 
possibilities. 

By  tabulating  the  average  rates  for  the  different 
classifications  I  could  carry  forward  on  each  line  the 
probable  earnings  from  each  source,  and  by  totaling 
the  columns,  cross  check  the  accuracy  of  estimates 
of  earnings  from  the  different  lines  of  business.  Now 
I  should  want  a  list  of  all  contracts  or  agreements 
made  by  the  larger  users  of  space.  For  example, 
if  the  largest  customer  used  100,000  lines  in  a  year 
at  a  certain  rate  I  should  head  my  list  with  as  many 
of  these  contracts  as  the  paper  had,  each  figured  as 
producing  so  much.  Next  the  50,000-line  customers, 
then  the  25,000-line,  the  10,000-line,  and  the  5,000- 
line  ones. 

These  sheets  would  show  how  much  business  was 
carried  at  a  loss,  if  any,  and  how  much  at  various 
degrees  of  profit,  and  afford  a  side  check  on  many 
activities  which  in  the  absence  of  such  information 
have  been  supposed  to  be  successful.  Analyzed  in 
the  search-light,  many  an  old  sore  spot  would  be 
uncovered.  With  such  information  in  hand  the  suf- 
fering members  could  be  cured  and  made  producers 
or  dropped  for  new  ones  more  promising.  Business  to- 
day is  too  near  a  science  to  work  in  the  dark  through 
the  lack  of  effective  data  regarding  costs  and  returns. 

By  these  processes  we  have  reached  the  point  of 
beginning.    We  know : 

1 .  The  average  rate  we  must  have  to  live. 

2.  The  average  net  rate  earned  last  year. 

3.  The  classifications  that  paid  their  way  and  those 
that  did  not. 

4.  We  can  make  a  definite  estimate  as  to  volume 
^nd  returns  from  possible  increased  business. 


a 


I 


98      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

5.  Where  to  expend  time  and  money  for  most 
profitable  results. 

6.  A  chart  which  will  enable  us  to  adjust  rates  to 
a  higher  basis  without  disturbing  business. 

Regarding  the  last  of  the  six  points  the  reader 
may  require  further  light.  It  may  be  found  that  the 
volume  from  some  classification,  while  highly  profit- 
able in  line  rate,  is  not  what  it  should  be.  Here  is 
an  opportunity  for  a  proposition  that  will  be  attrac- 
tive. Perhaps  a  slight  concession  in  price  for  definite, 
even  small,  quantities  of  business  may  draw.  Then 
again,  perhaps  in  cases  where  business  may  have 
been  taken  at  too  low  a  rate,  we  can  raise  prices  a 
notch  to-day  and  another  in  a  month  or  two,  so  that 
in  a  year  or  eighteen  months  we  shall  have  what  we 
sought. 

A  study  of  the  frequently  boosted  rate  cards  of 
The  New  York  Globe  during  191 7  to  meet  the  in- 
creased print-paper  prices  referred  to  in  Chapter 
XXVI  of  Newspaper  Building  will  show  what  can 
be  done  in  this  respect.  There  need  be  no  loss  of 
volume,  and  it  can  be  done  anywhere  if  it  is  done 
correctly. 

It  may  be  thought  that  I  have  here  generalized 
too  much  and  not  given  enough  specific  information. 
My  defense  is  that  it  is  impossible  definitely  to  out- 
line any  rate  card  that  will  fit  all  conditions.  To 
meet  the  difficulty  I  present  reproductions  of  the 
rate  cards  of  some  of  the  most  successful  newspapers 
in  the  country. 

Best  experience,  as  shown  at  a  recent  conference 
of  business  managers  of  a  score  of  our  most  substantial 
newspapers,  indicates  that  the  ideal  rate  card  should 
show  a  good  stiff  rate  for  one-time  business,  make  a 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     99 

heavy  discount  for  small  contractural  relations,  and 
provide  a  small  final  discount  in  the  shape  of  a  rebate 
to  be  earned  by  those  who  use  certain  specified  large 

copy. 

We  in  The  Globe  rate  card,  which  is  reproduced  on 
other  pages,  showing  the  new  standardized  form  re- 
cently recommended  by  the  National  Association  of 
Advertising  Agents,  seek  to  conform  to  the  above 
standard  as  nearly  as  practicable  in  providing  a 
heavy  discount  for  the  man  who  uses  as  Httle  as 
2,500  lines  during  the  year — 100  lines  more  than  a 
full  page.  We  did  this  purposely  so  that  the  man 
buying  a  single  page  for  one  insertion  would  not  earn 
the  discount.  That  the  plan  has  been  successful  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  before  the  new  form  went 
into  effect  we  had  a  much  smaller  percentage  of 
advertising  under  contract  than  we  have  to-day.  In- 
cidentally our  relations  with  the  many  small  adver- 
tisers enjoying  the  advantages  of  the  2,500-line  con- 
tracts are  much  more  satisfactory  than  they  were. 

Many  publishers  make  the  great  mistake  of  per- 
mitting advertisers  to  buy  or  secure  positions  for  their 
advertising  which  result  in  serious  handicap  in  the 
production  of  a  newspaper  that  will  be  sound  enough 
to  command  the  respect  and  confidence  of  its  readers. 

By  this  I  mean  the  printing  of  advertising  up  the 
front  side  of  the  page,  the  sale  of  "island"  positions, 
top  or  bottom,  with  reading  matter  on  three  sides, 

and  such. 

Best  experience  proves  that  the  sale  of  anything 
beyond   "next  following  and   alongside  reading"   is 

unprofitable. 

The  pyramid  form  of  make-up  from  the  right-hand 
lower  comer,  with  each  page  starting  with  reading 


ii 


I 


IM 


loo      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

matter,  is  best  for  the  reader  and  advertiser.  Of 
course,  if  he  can  buy  and  force  an  island  or  detached 
position  he  will  continue  to  do  so. 

In  our  better-grade  successful  newspapers  we  try 
to  keep  our  second  and  third  pages  clear  from  large 
advertising.     We  feel  that  our  newspaper  is  made 
with  the  first,  second,  and  third  pages,  so  we  seek  to 
keep  them  clear  by  establishing  prohibitive  rates  to 
those  who  insist  on  a  place  in  our  show  windows. 
Under  the  operation  of  such  a  rule  the  newspaper  is 
at  liberty  to  give  any  advertiser  an  occasional  posi- 
tion on  the  second  and  third  pages  when  it  meets 
its  convenience  to  do  so,  free  from  the  demands  and 
dictation  of  those  who  seek  to  dominate  such  positions. 
The  heavy  advertising  of  the  larger  stores  which  is 
so  distinct  and  conspicuous  that  it  cannot  be  buried, 
and  which  is  usually  accepted  at  lower  rates,  should 
be  used  as  filler,  as  background  and  underpinning  for 
the  smaller  ads.  which  pay  higher  rates. 

The  sooner  the  newspaper  demonstrates  to  its 
advertisers  that  its  first  and  primary  purpose  is  to 
serve  its  readers,  free  from  the  attempted  control 
and  unreasonable  demands  of  those  who  would  adver- 
tise to  the  readers,  the  sooner  will  that  newspaper 
command  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  sane 
advertisers. 

It  is  human  nature  for  the  buyer  of  anything  to 
think  that  his  money  can  buy  anything  on  his  own 
terms,  but  it  is  only  the  weakling  or  unfortunate  who 
permits  the  exploitation  of  what  is  decent  and  legiti- 
mate by  the  unprincipled  buyer. 


New  York  City 
New  York 


Issup^Eveninp — Daily,  except  Snnday 

Rate  Card   No.  2 

Date  of  iHSue — Jan.  15th,  1919 

Date   In   Effect — Feby.   lat,   1»I» 


1.  GENERAL  ADVERTISING 

(Display) 
•.  Base  rate  50  cents  a  line. 

k.  Time  discounts:  Per 

Line. 

E.  O   D   for  1  year  26%  .37% 
Twice  a  week   for 

1  year 20%      40 

On©    time    a    week 

for    1    year 16%  42% 

C.  Space  discounts: 

2.500  lines  In  1  year  22%  .39 

5.000  lines  In  1  year  24%  .38 

10.000  lines  In  1  year  28%  .36 

20.000  lines  In  1  year  32%  .34 

30,000  lines  in  1  year  36%  .S2 

Discounts  apply  only  on  wrltt-;n 
contract  to  Individual  adver- 
tisers. 

Time  discount  not  allowed  when 
space  discount  is  given 
If  at  least  28  lines  of  space  la 
not  used  within  thirty  -lays 
after  the  besinning  date  of  space 
contract  the  contract  la  void. 


d.  Rates  for  Special  Position. 
2d  or  3d  page,  double  price. 

Other     designated      pages      20% 
.extra. 

Next,  following:,  or  alongside 
reading,  20%  extra. 
Next  and  following,  40%  extra. 
Top.  next,  double  price. 
Bottom  surrounded,  triple  price. 
If  page  2  Is  ordered,  or  paj^e  3 
ordered.  10  cents  per  line  adUl- 
tlonal. 

Position  charges  on  time  or 
space  advertising  subject  to 
same  ratio  of  discount  as  run 
of   paper   charges. 

e.  Minimum  size  of  adveriise- 
r^ents:  7  lines. 

No  double-column  ad  less  than 
28   lines   deep. 

No  triple-column  ad  less  than 
75  lines  deep;  four  cols.,  160 
lines:  Ave  cols..  200  lines:  eight 
cols.,  250  lines. 

Advertisements  more  than  260 
lines  must  be  full  columns. 


Position  top  next,  not  less  than 
42  lines  deep. 

t.  All  contracts  are  subject  to 
delay  and  to  cancellation  by 
The  Globe  without  notice  and 
without  short  rate  for  any 
cause 

The  Globe  reserves  the  right  to 
limit  the  amount  of  advertising 
to   any   advertiser   in   any   is.siie 
under  any  contract. 
All   advertising  that   is  ordered 
■et,   and    which    foi    any   reason 
of  print  paper  limitation,  strike. 
Are,  or  difficulties  beyond  the  con- 
trol   of    The    Globe,    cannot    be 
printed  on   any  given   day.   may 
be  printed  on  the  following  d  ly 
In  case  any  advertisements  are 
omitted  under  print  paper  con 
servation  orders  by  the  govern 
ment,  those  selected  for  publica- 
tion will  be  taken   in  the  ord^r 
received  in  The  Globe  office  and 
released  for  publication 
((Over) 


1.  GENERAL  ADVERTISING      (Continued), 


All  orders  for  advertising  must 
be  accompanied  by  copy 
Right  reserved  to  reject,  light- 
en, or  Chang©  type,   borders,  or 
cuts,  or  to  limit  space  of  adver- 
tisements without  notice 
Claims  for  allowance  for  errors 
must    be   made   within   ten   aays 
afier  dale  of  insertion. 
Credit    for    errors    in    advertise- 
ments    placed     by     agents     al- 
lowed for  first  insertion  only 
Time     contiacts     must     specify 
days   of   wtelt    on    which   inser- 
tions are  to  be  given 
Space  on   all   advertisements  In 


agate  type  less  than  ten  agate 
lines  charged  actual  counted 
lines;  ten  lines  or  over  charged 
by  agate  measurement. 
Drawings  or  other  art  work 
supplied  to  advertisers  at  cost 
Drawings  and  articles  for  re- 
production accepted  only  at  ad- 
vertiser's risk 

The  forwarding  of  an  order  Is 
construed  as  an  acceptance  of 
all  the  rates  -  and  conditions 
under  which  advertising  sp.TC© 
is  at  the  time  sold  by  The  -Ntw 
York  Globe.  Failure  to  make 
the  order  correspond  in  prioa.or 
otherwise  with  this  rate  card  .n 


X  CLASSIFICATIONS 

Display  Classified. 

a    Amusements   Flat  .60 

Automobiles 40 

Discounts 

2.600  lines  in  one  year  .38 
6.000  lines  in  one  year  35 
10.000  lines  in  one  year  30 
Books  and  Magazines  Flat  .30 
Hotels  &  Restaurants. Flat  40 
•Lodge  Notices.  Memorials 
and  Vital  Incidents  Flnt  .60 


Newspapers   Flat  ..V) 

Politicar Flat  .60 

Religious  Notices   Flat  .25 

Undertakers   Flat    50 

•  Allow    five    words    lower    case 
to    line,    as    t.bese    ads     are    Uj 
dented 

Flat  rate  advertising  ordere.1  In 
position  pays  position  premium 
flat 


regarded  only  as  a  clerical  error 
and  publication  is  made  and 
chargfd  for  upon  the  tertas  of 
the  schedule  in  force,  without 
further  notification. 
Serious  errors  in  advertisements 
will  be  rectified  by  republican 
tion  without  additional  charge, 
but  such  republication  will  not 
be  made  where  the  error  does 
not  materially  affect  the  value 
of  the  advertisement. 
"Till  Forbid'"  orders  are  subloct 
to  change  in  rate  without  notice. 
Cancellation  of  orders  over  the 
telephone  not  recognized.  unU-ss 
confirmed  same  day  in  writing 


Grouped  under  designating  heads. 

min  mum    size   of   advertisements 

7  lines. 

•  >curs'ons  and  Travel.-:      .-O 

Fell    Estate    30 

Mortgage  Loans 30 

Resorts .30 

Steamships     30 

Discounts: 

Daily  6  mos.  or  B.  Oi  D.  1  year  .25 

3.000  lines '1   year   27 

5.000  lines  1  year     .23 


2.  CLASSIFICATIONS    (Continued). 


1  AU'tion  Sales  30 

Discounts,   1  time  a   week  ■ 

for  1  year .23 

Schooils  and  Instruction...  .30 

Discounts: 
2ft  ti:nes  consecolively,  or 
3       I  nsertlons       (including 
Satuiday)     each     consecu- 
tive -veek  for  3  months 28 

52  times  consecutively,  or 
.1  i  isertlons  (including 
Satuiday)  each  consecu- 
tive   week  for  6  months...  .27 

156  times  consecutively,  or 
3  1  isertions  (Including 
Satiwday)  each  consecu- 
tive »veek  for  1  year ,.  .25 

•tPure     Food     T)irectory — 
14    cgsite    lines    three    times    a 
w«ek  for  one  year,  39  cents  per 
agate  line  per  Insertion. 


•MiniiTum  space,  one  Inch  single 
column;  maximum  space,  four 
Inches   single   column 

tAII  products  and  copy  must  be 
approved  by  Alfred  W    McCann 


b.   Fndisplayed  Classified. 

30    cents    per     line    for    solid 
agate,      except      "Situations 
Wanted"  16  cents. 
Discounts: 
6  Consecutive  times. .  .28  cents 
26  "  "     ..27     " 

312  "  "     ..25     •• 

Discounts  apply  only  on  written 
contract  to  Individual  adver- 
tisers. 

40  cents  per  line  if  light  dis- 
play  is   used. 

No  ad.  less  than  3  lines.  Agate 
type  only  permitted.  Light  ,Iis- 
play  only  in  ads  measuring  7 
lines  or  more. 

Only'  single  column  advertise- 
ments  accepted. 

Six  average  words  to  a  line,  set 
in  agate  type;  four  average 
words  if  all  agate  caps. 
Tlndisplayed  classified  adver- 
tisements with  special  agate  type 
•'layout''  must  be  at  least  seven 
lines.' 

Change  of  copy  permitted. 


Advertisements  ordered  tinder 
other  than  proper  classification, 
if  accepted,  pay  the  higher  rate. 

Undisplayed  Classified  .Advertis- 
ing with  special  "layout"  meas- 
ured 14  agate  lines  to  the  inch. 

Legal   Advertisements: 
•Rankruptcy  Auctions. Flat    30 
♦  Bankruptcy  Notices,  inc.  U.S. 
Referees'   notices.  .'.Flat  .30 
Co-partnership     and     Dis- 
solution     Fl.it  .40 

Election  Notices Flat  .60 

•Leeal  Notices  (Assignees' 
Notices,  Foreclo  sure 
Sales,  Referees'  Notices, 
Summonses,   Surrogates' 

Citations)    Flat  .30 

Public  Notices Flat    50 

Proposals    .....Flat. 60 

Surrogates'  Notices  (once 
a  week;  6  months,  27 
limes),  J. $120 

•If  displayed  60  cents  per  a^ate 
line  flat. 

(Over) 


3.  READING  NOTICES 

Rates    for   styles   and   for   posi- 
tions ^I'hen  available: 
First  page.  Per  agate  line,$2.60 
Inside  pages.  "         "        2.00 


Reading  Notices  not  accepted  on 
Kditorial,  opposite  Editorial,  or 
on  last  page 


'^siv.*'  must  be  affixed 


4.  COMMISSION  AND  CASH  DISCOUNT 


Agency  Commission,  ex- 
c«pt  on  Amusements  and 
U.  S  Gov't,  State,  or  City 
Notices  or   advertising  .,  .lB7o 


b.  Agency  Cash  Discount  ex- 
cept on  Amusements  and 
U.  S.  Gov't,  State,  or  City 
Notices  or  advertising 2% 


e.  Cash  Discount  date  15th  of 
month  following  month  of  Inser- 
tion 


5.  MECHANICAL  REQUIREMENTS 

a.  'Width  of  col.,  1214  ems  pica.      e.  Size  of  printed   page: 

».  Depth  of  col..  300  agate  lines.  17y4x21%  incites. 

e.  Nunber  of  columns  to  page,  8.      '.  Closing  dates,   none. 

d.  Cen;re  spread  space  not  .sold.      g.  Half-tone  screen  required,  65. 


h.  Requirements  as  to  originals, 
electros,  and  mats:  If  furnished 
by  advertiser,  used  at  his  ridk. 
Can  use  mats. 


6.  CIFCULATION 

a.  Member  of  A-  B.  C. 

b.  Daily    evening    newspaper. 
lnd'?pendent    Republican. 


e.  Circulation  Local. 

Over   90%  in  Greater  New  Tork 

and  suburbs. 


d.  See  latest  A.  B.  C.  Report. 


7.  MI.SCELLANEOUS 

a.  No  (liTensive  or  objectionable 
co|>y  accepted  or  printed. 
No  liquor  ads  or  cures. 
"b.  Rst:ibllshed  1793. 
(Oldesi.  daily  newspaper  in  U.  S.) 


c.  $7.20  a  year.     2c.  per  copy. 

d.  No     other     publications     by 
same  owners. 


Jason  Rogers,  Publisher. 
H.  J.  Wright,  Editor. 
O'Mara  &  Ormsbee,  Inc.,  Spe- 
cial     Representatives,      New 
York  and  Chicago. 

(Over) 


New  Standardized  Rate  Card  (New  York  Globe)  as  Adopted  by  the  American  Advertising  Agents'  Association. 


XVI 


Fallacious  Special  Editions 

Special  editions  are  a  device  to  be  shunned  by 
the  advertising  manager  seeking  to  build  up  a  strong 
edifice.  The  temptation  to  seek  the  extra  money 
obtainable  from  those  who  most  easily  bite  on  arti- 
ficial bait,  in  preference  to  real  live  worms,  is  generally 
strong,  but  that  does  not  prove  that  it  is  good  busi- 
ness to  take  their  money  on  false  pretense. 

If  I  were  an  advertiser  I  would  not  go  into  a  special 
edition  if  the  space  were  offered  free.  Representa- 
tion in  the  best  of  them  is  proof  of  one's  weakness 
rather  than  anything  else.  Yet  nearly  every  day 
some  of  my  newspaper  friends  send  me  copies  of  big 
special  editions  as  proof  of  their  ability  and  enterprise. 

From  my  standpoint  it  matters  not  whether  a  special 
edition  is  the  product  of  your  regular  advertising  force 
or  the  work  of  a  crew  of  strong-arm  men  set  loose 
among  your  local  industries ;  the  result  is  the  same — 
no  satisfactory  return  to  the  advertiser.  Few  readers 
take  the  trouble  to  wade  through  such  publications, 
whose  chief  purpose  is  to  puff  up  those  who  spend 
money  for  their  production. 

On  this  point  an  extract  from  a  recent  editorial 
from  The  Emporia  (Kansas)  Gazette,  edited  by  William 
Allen  White,  is  pertinent: 


Ajv 


I02      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

The  Gazette  has  received  sample  copies  of  a  daily  newspaper  of 
228  pages,  printed  this  week  in  an  Oklahoma  town.  The  paper 
is  said  by  its  publishers  to  be  the  largest  single  edition  ever  printed 
in  the  United  States.  If  it  is,  it  also  is  the  silliest  single  edition 
ever  printed  in  the  United  States. 

No  newspaper  in  the  worid  can  get  out  a  228-page  edition 
and  fill  it  with  reading  matter  that  is  worth  while  to  the  average 
newspaper  reader,  or,  for  that  matter,  with  advertising  which  is 
worth  while  to  the  average  advertiser. 


The  tendency  In  modem  newspaper-making  is  to  fewer  pages. 
The  newspaper  is  becoming  a  sort  of  public  utility,  and  it  is  a 
reasonably  well-established  behef  that  pubHc-utility  service 
should  not  be  duplicated.  Another  tendency  in  modem  news- 
paper-making is  more  concise  writing  of  news,  and  because  the 
writing  is  more  concise  the  newspapers  are  requiring  better- 
trained  writers.  Any  reporter  can  tell  his  story  in  a  column,  but 
it  takes  a  real  master  to  get  it  into  the  space  known  to  the  old 
hand-set  men  as  a  stickful. 

The  newspaper  business  is  growing  away  from  the  sensational. 
The  present-day  tendency  is  news,  tersely  written,  and  articles 
of  the  news  and  great  world  events,  at  some  length,  written  by 
past-masters  in  the  art  of  newspaper  and  magazine  writing. 

In  my  time  I  have  had  opportunity  -to  try  out 
almost  every  kind  of  special  edition  ever  put  over, 
and  on  a  final  review  of  my  experience  I  must  fall 
in  with  the  views  of  Mr.  White  and  the  policies  pur- 
sued by  such  representative  newspapers  as  The 
Chicago  Daily  News,  The  Kansas  City  Star,  The 
Philadelphia  Bulletin,  and  many  others  which  would 
no  more  give  house  roomi  to  a  special  edition  than  to 
paid  advertising  as  reading  matter  at  any  figure. 

During  my  earlier  days  I  have  seen  special -edition 
men  draw  down  50  to  60  per  cent,  of  their  take  from 
a  town,  and  yet  the  newspapers  figured  that  they  werQ 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      103 

doing  a  sound  business  because  in  some  way  or  other 
they  were  able  to  figure  a  small  margin  of  profit  for 
the  shop.  There  are  men  who  to-day  make  a  specialty 
of  such  work,  openly  advertising  their  trade  and  news- 
papers which  employ  them,  and  think  they  are  doing 
legitimate  business.  And,  stranger  still,  they  are  the 
papers  who  as  a  rule  object  to  paying  advertising 
agents  a  commission  of  1 5  per  cent,  on  business  sent 
them  if  it  is  linked  to  the  names  of  local  dealers. 

Only  once  or  twice  since  my  connection  with  The 
Globe  have  we  tried  out  special  editions,  and  every 
time,  regardless  of  results,  we  have  had  a  feeling  of 
regret  and  remorse  at  having  lent  ourselves  to  such 
childish  and  foolish  makeshifts  for  real  advertising. 
The  only  kind  of  advertising  which  is  profitable  to 
a  newspaper  (this  cannot  be  repeated  too  often)  is 
the  sort  that  is  profitable  to  the  advertiser.  It  is 
much  more  effective  to  put  in  double  the  effort  to 
get  312-  or  365-day  a  year  business  into  a  newspaper 
than  to  fool  business  men  into  throwing  away  their 
money  in  special  editions. 

For  some  reason  it  is  always  easy  to  get  ordinary 
business  men  to  agree  to  pay  for  space  in  a  special 
edition,  on  the  strength  of  glittering  promises  made 
in  connection  with  a  hand-made  dummy.  They  seem 
to  like  to  part  with  their  money  for  such  blarney.  I 
know  because  I  have  sold  it  to  them.  The  same  man 
who  will  gladly  pay  good  money  to  see  his  picture 
and  a  puff  of  himself  or  his  business  will  balk  a  block 
when  asked  to  buy  advertising  of  the  kind  that  will 
bring  him  increased  sales  and  new  trade. 

^  But  it  is  up  to  our  advertising  manager  to  devote 
his  time  and  attention  to  educating  merchants  and 
loccil  de^l^rs  to  the  use  of  legitimate  advertising  and 


L^i  d 


104      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

away  from  the  special-edition  idea  and  other  fly-by- 
night  schemes  called  advertising. 

Total  space  figures  produced  by  special  editions  pro- 
vide a  fictitious  basis  for  future  comparisons,  and  lead 
to  further  special  editions  or  temptation  the  next  year 
to  equal  previous  records  or  to  establish  new  high 
marks.  We  all  know  how  such  things  work,  and  yet 
too  many  of  us  in  a  moment  of  weakness  listen  to  the 
voice  of  the  plausible  talker  seeking  to  put  over  a 
special  or  series  of  specials  on  us. 

Sound  experience,  I  repeat,  is  against  special  edi- 
tions of  all  kinds  under  any  pretense,  yet  the  best 
of  them,  aside  from  the  really  successful  newspapers, 
occasionally  indulge  in  twenty-fifth-birthday  testi- 
monial benefits.  The  farther  away  you  keep  from 
such  efforts  the  better  will  be  the  appreciation  of 
your  newspaper  as  a  community  institution. 

As  a  striking  example  of  the  more  dignified  treat- 
ment. The  New  York  Globe  on  its  125th  anniversary 
published  an  eight-page  historical  section  and  did 
not  solicit  or  print  a  single  line  of  special  advertising, 
though  we  could  have  secured  $40,000  or  $50,000  of  it, 
if  we  had  sought  it.  The  fact  that  we  did  not  merely 
take  money  is  worth  more  to  us  than  the  profit  we 
would  have  made  by  the  other  process. 


XVII 

Scheme  Advertising  Inefective 

Classified  directories  of  various  sorts  are  a  de- 
lusive phase  of  activity  in  stimulating  local  advertis- 
ing that  has  been  tried  time  and  again  in  endless 
variety,  and  never,  so  far  as  I  know,  with  lasting  suc- 
cess. As  a  rule,  such  activities  furnish  a  seemingly 
promising  outlet  for  the  pent-up  enthusiasm  of  some 
solicitor  or  group  of  solicitors,  and  often  start  off 
quite  successfully  for  a  few  weeks  or  months,  before 
the  advertisers  commence  to  tire  of  spending  even 
small  sums  without  result. 

Years  ago  I  had  a  strong  inclination  toward  this 
sort  of  development,  on  the  theory  that  under  a 
series  of  general  heads  such  as  "Household  Necessi- 
ties," "For  the  Office,"  "Dressmaking,"  and  such, 
it  would  be  easy  to  secure  the  small  cards  of  people 
engaged  in  such  lines  who  at  trifling  cost  could  keep 
their  names  before  the  public  and  pick  up  profitable 
trade.  Whether  or  not  in  those  days  the  papers 
I  was  connected  with  did  not  pull,  I  never  succeeded 
in  establishing  such  a  feature  for  any  length  of  time. 

Later  I  discovered  that  in  trying  to  make  a  direc- 
tory attractive  typographically  the  general  head  and 
classified  lines  ate  up  too  large  a  proportion  of  the 
space  to  make  even  a  fairly  high  rate  produce  the 


io6     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


average  per  column  required  to  make  both  ends  meet. 
This  may  have  been  due  to  our  own  weakness  in 
granting  classification  headings  too  freely. 

To  me,  at  least,  these  demonstrations  stand  as 
striking  testimony  that  no  advertising  of  the  stand- 
ing-card variety  can  ever  be  profitable  to  those  seeking 
definite  sales.  I  tried  to  get  my  customers  to  change 
their  copy  and  offerings  from  day  to  day,  but  the 
business  in  individual  cases  was  so  insignificant  that 
it  did  not  pay  to  give  it  personal  attention. 

The  Chicago  Sunday  Tribune  has  apparently  made 
a  success  at  different  times  with  various  specific 
groupings  of  small  advertisers,  but  The  Tribune  can 
do  things  that  probably  no  other  newspaper  can  do. 
Carrying  a  mass  of  classified  advertising  in  its  Sun- 
day issue  which  its  readers  have  been  trained  to 
utilize,  the  small  specialized  directories  on  the  wom- 
en's pages,  kept  alive  in  advertising  news  interest, 
have  gone  a  long  way  to  disprove  the  soundness  of 
my  theory  and  to  impair  the  value  of  my  own  experi- 
ence. 

On  The  Chicago  Inter-Ocean  in  1898  we  built  up 
a  directory  of  nearly  a  full  page  which  made  a  fine 
showing,  and,  with  space  at  10  cents  a  Hne,  bid  fair 
to  be  profitable.  Before  the  year  was  out  it  had 
dwindled  to  such  small  proportions  as  no  longer  to 
justify  the  running  of  the  general  head. 

Likewise,  the  scheme  of  presenting  a  collection  of 
one-inch  cards  from  business  houses  in  a  community, 
a  device  that  has  been  a  bread-winner  for  many  a 
weak  newspaper,  has  seldom  continued  beyond  the 
duration  of  the  introductory  contracts.  Such  ad- 
vertising becomes  stagnant  in  the  eyes  of  the  reader, 
who  after  a  few  days  or  weeks  skips  it.    It  is  not  news- 


HARRY    J.    GRANT 

Business  Manager  of  the   Milwaukee  Journal.     A  newspaper  man  who  has  had 
successful  experience  as  a  special  representative. 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      107 

paper  advertising  in  its  soundest  sense,  and  is  there- 
fore of  doubtful  value  in  building  up  a  healthy  ad- 
vertising following. 

This  brings  me  to  another  point  of  interest  in  the 
consideration  of  newspaper  advertising — the  com- 
parative value  of  a  full-page  ad.  and  one  of  six  full 
columns  in  a  newspaper  carrying  seven  columns  to 
the  page.  John  Wanamaker,  of  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, one  of  the  most  successful  advertisers  in 
the  country,  has  long  believed  that  space  on  a  page 
with  some  reading  matter  was  more  valuable  to  him 
than  the  full  page. 

By  studying  the  way  people  read  their  newspapers 
on  the  street-cars  and  on  the  trains  I  am  almost 
convinced  that  Mr.  Wanamaker's  conclusion  is  sound. 
More  often  than  not  I  have  seen  the  reader  in  public 
places  give  a  solid  page  ad.  a  mere  glance  to  see  if 
there  was  any  reading  matter  there,  and  then  turn 
to  the  next  page.  If  this  is  a  common  practice — 
and  I  think  it  is — are  not  our  newspapers  making 
a  mistake  in  seeking  full  pages  and  double  trucks? 
It  is  wasteful  and  destructive  to  induce  a  customer 
to  buy  more  than  he  can  use  at  a  profit,  just  as  much 
in  selling  advertising  as  in  stocking  him  with  goods 
by  means  of  an  over-zealous  drummer. 

For  a  long  time  I  have  inclined  to  the  notion  that 
our  newspapers  have  sold  their  advertising  so  cheaply 
as  to  encourage  advertisers  to  wasteful  use  of  space. 
From  every  standpoint  both  the  newspaper  and  the 
advertiser  would  be  better  off  if  much  less  space 
were  taken  at  higher  rates. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  we  conducted  a  series  of  ad- 
vertising contests  in  The  Globe,  for  the  purpose  of 
intensifying  reader  interest  in  advertising,  which  pro- 


•li 


m 


io8      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

duced  a  total  of  over  70,000  letters.  An  analysis 
showed  that  the  advertising  of  Heam  &  Co.,  who  use 
only  two  full  columns  every  day  except  Saturday, 
and  three  columns  on  Wednesday,  drew  as  many 
mentions  as  the  advertising  of  any  large  advertiser 
except  John  Wanamaker.  This  was  a  surprising  re- 
sult, and  one  which  indicates  that  mere  bulk  of  ad- 
vertising does  not  secure  increased  volume  of  trade. 
(See  further  details  in  Chapter  XLIII  Part  IV). 

Whenever  I  see  the  statements  of  certain  newspapers 
in  various  cities  boasting  that  they  carry  upwards  of 
1,000,000  lines  of  advertising  per  month,  I  make  up 
my  mind  they  are  selling  their  space  too  cheaply  and 
inducing  merchants  large  and  small  to  shout  their 
heads  off  with  huge  copy  until  the  moderate  user  of 
space  has  little  or  no  chance.  Most  of  them  could 
profitably  borrow  a  page  of  experience  from  The 
Philadelphia  Bulletin  with  its  400,000  two-cent  circu- 
lation and  rates  which  hold  the  big  fellows  down  and 
give  the  small  advertiser  a  chance. 

I  know  of  several  very  successful  big- volume  news- 
papers which  experienced  advertisers  with  means  of 
checking  results  put  down  as  of  doubtful  value  to 
them   except   where   they   can   use   dominant   copy. 

As  one  of  them  recently  told  me,  '  *  I  know  the  — • 

has  an  enormous  circulation  and  should  pay  me  hand- 
somely, but  my  small  copy  gets  lost  in  the  shuffle  and 
after  a  dozen  trials  I  now  use  other  newspapers  of 
less  circulation  with  better  results." 

Newspapers  reach  a  point  of  reader  saturation. 
Few  people  nowadays  have  the  time  or  inclination  to 
read  thoroughly  a  daily  newspaper  of  over  16  pages, 
yet  there  are  publishers  who  pride  themselves  on 
crowding  from  24  to  36  pages  of  printed  matter  on 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      109 

them  day  in  and  day  out.  Sooner  or  later  their  sins 
will  find  them  out.  Higher  rates  and  more  condensed 
news  and  advertising  constitute  an  effective  means 
for  the  conservation  of  print  paper  and  the  time  of 
readers. 


m 


ill 


XVIII 


I 


Political  Advertising 

In  the  early  days  many  of  our  newspapers  were 
started  for  political  purposes,  supported  by  contri- 
butions either  from  those  who  sought  official  recog- 
nition or  from  those  who  hoped  for  franchise  grants, 
and  from  public  funds  through  election,  legislation 
record,  and  other  governmental  printing.  Too  many 
newspaper  men  still  look  with  favor  upon  such  prac- 
tices, and  in  my  opinion  it  is  leaning  on  this  broken 
reed  that  causes  more  newspapers  unsuccess  than  al- 
most all  other  factors  combined. 

Dreamers  and  impractical  journalists  have  for  years 
looked  upon  newspapers  as  correlated  to  politics  and 
interested  control  rather  than  as  a  legitimate  business 
probably  more  essential  to  a  community  than  any 
other,  upon  which,  indeed,  most  others  are  largely 
dependent  for  growth  and  prosperity.  Men  like  the 
late  Col.  W.  R.  Nelson,  Victor  F.  Lawson,  W.  L. 
McLean,  Adolph  S.  Ochs,  and  a  hundred  others  of 
perhaps  less  prominence  I  could  name  have  never 
played  up  to  or  for  politics. 

The  party  newspaper  is  a  weak  newspaper,  for,  by 
the  assertion  or  partizan  bias,  it  cuts  off  all  possible 
influence  among  those  outside  of  party  lines,  who  will 
not  buy  it.  Divested  of  all  pretense,  the  advertising 
of  a  party  in  its  own  controlled  newspaper  is  about 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      in 


as  effective  as  would  be  the  offer  of  warm  blankets  in 
the  region  supposed  to  be  dominated  by  his  Satanic 
majesty. 

The  most  casual  investigation  of  newspaper  con- 
ditions in  the  larger  cities  of  the  country  convincingly 
proves  that  there  is  absolutely  nothing  worth  while  in 
seeking  political  or  governmental  advertising  in  com- 
pensation for  inflicting  interested  propaganda  on  the 
readers  of  a  newspaper.  The  old  New  York  Star, 
The  Chicago  Times,  The  Chicago  Herald,  The  Chicago 
Inter-Ocean,  and  later  The  Chicago  Chronicle,  were 
samples  of  the  policy  of  such  conception  and  method 
of  newspapering.  Others  too  numerous  to  specify  in 
nearly  every  city  in  the  country  could  be  cited  as 
additional  proof. 

Millions  upon  millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent 
by  men  in  their  zeal  to  serve  a  party  and  its  cause 
or  to  accomplish  political  ends  by  backing  or  sup- 
porting newspapers.  So  many  thousands  of  enrolled 
citizens  composing  a  party  look  like  real  circulation 
ready  made,  while  the  promises  of  advertising  by 
men  enthusiastic  for  the  moment  and  of  public  print- 
ing seem  to  prove  that  the  enterprise  must  be  a 
winner  from  the  start. 

After  Election  Day  political  enthusiasm  peters  out 
like  a  crowd  from  a  baseball  game.  Lack  of  partizan 
support  means  circulation  materially  below  glowing 
estimates,  and  advertising  promised  in  advance  of 
a  campaign  fades  like  a  shadow  if  it  does  not  pro- 
duce profitable  returns.  The  few  exceptions  of  really 
worth-while  newspapers  that  have  grown  out  of  polit- 
ical sheets  have  merely  happened  and  serve  as  bait 
to  lure  those  with  money  to  bum,  trying  to  prov^ 
their  patriotism  or  party  zeal, 


112      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


i 


For  the  purpose  of  stimulating  political  advertising 
nothing  is  so  effective  as  an  absolutely  independent 
newspaper,  pledged  to  no  party,  but  faithfully  serv- 
ing the  best  interests  of  the  taxpayers  and  commending 
the  best  men  for  office  regardless  of  party.  Such  a 
newspaper  wins  the  confidence  of  the  community, 
generally  attains  largest  circulation,  and  is  in  the 
best  possible  situation  to  attract  political  advertising. 
It  is  not  hampered  by  the  hoodoo  badge  of  partizan- 
ship,  and  provides  the  ideal  medium  for  all  parties 
and  candidates  wherein  to  make  their  display  appeals. 

With  columns  freely  open  to  orderly  and  sane  argu- 
ments of  any  party,  such  a  newspaper,  reaching  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  people,  facilitates  circulation 
of  arguments  among  the  voters.  Our  newspapers  in 
New  York  make  a  higher  rate  for  political  advertising 
than  ordinary  run  of  paper  copy,  probably  on  the 
theory  that  they  are  entitled  to  a  special  revenue 
from  business  coming  only  for  a  few  weeks  in  a  year, 
in  order  to  make  it  pay  its  share  of  the  carrying  charge 
of  publication  every  day  in  the  year. 

For  example,  in  the  case  of  The  Globe,  our  one-time 
ordinary  rate  is  50  cents  per  line,  while  we  place 
it  at  60  cents  a  line  for  political.  During  the  191 7 
campaign  we  eliminated  the  extra  10  cents  a  line  as 
an  experiment,  but  the  additional  business  secured 
was  not  sufficient  to  justify  the  sacrifice.  Those  who 
inserted  political  advertising  used  certain  newspapers 
regardless  of  rates,  and  we  had  merely  lost  10  cents 
per  line  of  revenue  for  our  willingness  to  apply  com- 
mon-sense rules  to  the  situation. 

Official  business  from  the  city  and  the  state  in  the 
case  of  our  New  York  City  newspapers  pays  the  usual 
one-time  transient  rate,  50  cents  a  line.     This  came 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      113 

largely  as  the  result  of  politicians  of  one  sort  seeking 
to  beat  the  newspapers  down  to  very  low  rates  for 
such  business,  and  the  politicians  of  another  sort 
seeking  to  enrich  favored  friends  by  giving  them  the 
highest  rates  they  dared  for  certain  business. 

Aside  from  the  Brooklyn  newspapers,  which  print 
a  large  volume  of  legislative  records,  a  relic  of  country 
newspaper  days,  none  of  our  New  York  newspapers 
receive  or  seriously  seek  official  advertising.  The 
list  of  election-district  polling-places  and  results  of 
the  official  canvass  go  to  a  certain  number  of  Re- 
publican and  Democratic  newspapers  each  year,  and 
a  limited  volume  of  small  ads.  referring  to  specific 
offerings  in  The  City  Record,  a  government  daily, 
is  about  all  that  is  out. 

Political  pap  dealt  out  to  the  faithful  in  many  cities 
and  states  is,  as  a  rule,  as  illusive  and  profitless  as 
the  bag  of  gold  supposed  to  be  deposited  at  the  end 
of  a  rainbow.  The  Httle  fellows  and  amateurs  con- 
tinue to  look  for  it  as  a  necessity  for  support  when 
they  could  probably  dig  up  twice  as  much  profit  by 
devoting  the  same  amount  of  time  to  the  quest  for 
legitimate  business. 

My  only  personal  experience  in  connection  with 
large-volume  official  advertising  was  in  Chicago  in 
the  '90's,  when  two  or  three  papers  got  competing 
for  it  on  the  basis  of  determining  which  would  take 
it  at  the  lowest  rate.  I  am  not  certain  regarding  the 
final  result,  but  have  a  faint  recollection  that  the 
winner  took  it  for  one  cent  a  line,  hardly  sufficient 
to  pay  for  setting  the  type  and  wear  and  tear  of  the 
metal.  I  believe  the  publishers  thought  there  was 
some  small  circulation  that  followed  the  printing  of 
this  matter. 


1  - 


i 


f 

\ 


114     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Many  of  the  states  have  enacted  laws  regulating 
poHtical  advertising  so  as  to  prohibit  the  old  practice 
of  selling  paid  reading  matter  printed  to  influence 
voters.  In  Minnesota,  for  example,  the  General  Elec- 
tion Laws  clearly  define  what  may  and  may  not  be 
done,  as  follows: 


Section  568.  Designation  of  Political  Advertisements 
IN  Newspapers — publisher  to  file  statement  with  secre- 
tary OF  STATE. — No  publisher  of  a  newspaper,  periodical  or 
magazine  shall  insert  either  in  the  advertising  columns  of  such 
newspaper,  magazine  or  periodical,  or  elsewhere  therein  any  matter 
paid  or  to  be  paid  for  which  is  intended  or  tends  to  influence 
directly  or  indirectly  any  voting  at  any  primary  or  general  elec- 
tion unless  at  the  head  of  said  matter  is  printed  in  pica  capital 
letters  the  words  "Paid  Advertisement,"  and  unless  there  is 
also  a  statement  at  the  head  of  said  matter  of  the  amount  paid 
or  to  be  paid  therefor,  the  name  and  address  of  the  candidate 
in  whose  behalf  the  matter  is  inserted  and  of  any  other  person, 
if  any,  authorizing  the  publication,  and  the  name  of  the  author 
thereof.  No  publisher  of  any  newspaper,  periodical  or  magazine 
pubHshed  within  this  state  shall  insert  therein  in  the  advertising 
colimin  of  such  newspaper,  magazine,  periodical,  or  elsewhere 
therein,  any  matter  whatsoever  of  a  political  nature,  or  any  polit- 
ical editorial  relative  to  a  candidate  for  any  public  office,  unless 
the  publisher  thereof  shall  file  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state 
of  this  state  within  six  months  before  the  holding  of  any  primary 
or  general  election,  or  within  ten  days  after  the  calling  of  and 
before  the  holding  of  any  special  election,  a  sworn  statement 
which  shall  contain  the  names  of  the  owners  of  such  paper,  and 
if  such  paper  be  a  corporation,  the  names  and  addresses  of  the 
owners  of  the  shares  of  stock  of  such  corporation. 

Section  569.  Publisher's  statement  to  be  filed  with 
COUNTY  AUDITOR. — Every  candidate  and  every  member  of  any 
personal  campaign  or  party  committee,  who  shall  either  in  his 
own  name  or  in  the  name  of  any  other  person,  own  any  financial 
interest  in  any  newspaper  or  periodical,  circulating  in  part  or 
in  whole  in  Minnesota,  shall,  before  such  newspaper  or  periodical 
shall  print  any  matter  otherwise  than  as  is  provided  in  Sections 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      115 

2(568),  which  is  intended  or  tends  to  influence,  directly  or  in- 
directly, any  voting  at  any  election  or  primary  in  this  state,  file 
in  the  office  of  the  auditor  of  the  county  in  which  he  resides  a 
verified  declaration,  stating  definitely  the  newspaper  or  peri- 
odical in  which  or  over  which  he  has  such  financial  interest  or 
control,  and  the  exact  nature  and  extent  of  such  interest  or  con- 
trol. The  editor,  manager  or  other  person  controlling  the  pub- 
lication of  any  such  newspaper  or  article,  who  shall  print  or  cause 
to  be  printed  any  such  matter  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  prior  to  the  filing  of  such  verified  declaration  from  any 
person  required  by  this  section  to  file  such  declaration,  shall  be 
deemed  guilty  of  a  violation  hereof. 

Section  570.  Soliciting  by  publisher  or  candidate  pro- 
hibited.— No  owner,  publisher,  editor,  reporter,  agent  or  em- 
ploye of  any  newspaper  or  other  periodical,  shall,  directly  or 
indirectly,  solicit,  receive  or  accept  any  payment,  promise  or 
compensation,  nor  shall  any  person  pay  or  promise  to  pay,  in  any 
manner  compensate  any  such  owner,  publisher,  editor,  reporter, 
agent  or  employe,  directly  or  indirectly,  for  influencing  or  at- 
tempting to  influence  through  any  printing  matter  in  such  news- 
paper any  voting  at  any  election  or  primary  through  any  means 
whatsoever,  except  through  the  matter  inserted  in  such  news- 
paper or  periodical  as  "Paid  Advertisement,"  and  so  designated 
as  provided  by  this  act. 

Likewise,  in  many  of  our  states  corrupt-practice 
laws,  compelling  candidates  and  parties  to  file  de- 
tailed statements  of  subscriptions  and  expenses,  are 
tending  to  eliminate  the  outright  purchase  of  votes 
by  money  or  entertainment,  and  to  foster  paid  news- 
paper advertising.  Here  in  New  York,  during  the 
Presidential  election  of  1916,  our  newspapers  carried 
more  political  advertising  than  ever  before.  The  ads. 
were  carefully  prepared,  largely  free  from  abuse, 
clearly  presented  the  strongest  arguments,  and  were 
read  and  studied  by  the  voters. 

As  previously  stated,  the  modem  practice,  which 
places  upon  independent  journalism  the  highest  pre- 


ii6      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


miums  in  circulation  and  public  confidence,  also 
brings  the  heaviest  volume  of  legitimate  political  ad- 
vertising. A  newspaper  can  accept  and  print  non- 
abusive  advertising  from  both  or  many  sides,  and 
keep  free  from  entanglements  as  far  as  editorial  con- 
duct goes. 


If 


XIX 

Table  for  Determining  Size  of  Paper 

The  print-paper  shortage  of  1916  and  191 7  and  the 
higher  price  of  print  paper  for  1918  compelled  news- 
paper-makers to  give  more  attention  than  ever  to 
the  proportion  of  news  matter  to  advertising.  The 
subject  was  touched  on  in  Newspaper  Building,  Chap- 
ter XX.  Increasing  pressure  has  demanded  still  fur- 
ther consideration  of  the  situation  by  newspaper  pub- 
lishers, and  hardly  a  day  passes  without  some  query 
coming  to  me  for  additional  data. 

I  have  prepared  the  two  tables  herewith,  covering 
various  standards  of  news  matter  from  40  to  76 
columns  for  7-  and  8 -column  newspapers,  which,  if 
reproduced  for  office  use  on  slips,  will  save  print-paper 
waste.  In  The  Globe  office  a  check  mark  opposite 
the  standard  in  force  any  week  or  any  day,  copies  of 
the  slips  going  to  the  editors  and  composing-room, 
eliminates  any  possible  misunderstanding. 

In  explanation  of  the  tables: 

The  first  column  shows  the  size  of  the  paper  deter- 
mined by  the  quantity  of  advertising. 

The  second  column,  the  number  of  columns  in  the 
number  of  pages  given  in  the  first  column. 

The  third  column,  the  number  of  columns  of  read- 
ing matter  which  we  may  adopt  as  our  standard. 


j;ll 


ii8      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


MAKE-UP  SCHEDULE 


8-COLUMN 

BASIS 

Total 

Columns 

Columns 

To  go  to 

Pages 

Columns 

Reading 

Advertising 

Next  Size 

12 

96 

40 

56 

60 

14 

112 

40 

72 

76 

16 

128 

40 

88 

92 

18 

144 

40 

104 

108 

20 

160 

40 

120 

124 

22 

176 

40 

136 

140 

24 

192 

40 

152 

156 

12 

96 

44 

52 

56 

14 

112 

44 

68 

72 

16 

128 

44 

84 

88 

18 

144 

44 

100 

104 

20 

160 

44 

116 

120 

22 

176 

44 

132 

136 

24 

192 

44 

148 

152 

12 

96 

48 

48 

52 

14 

112 

48 

64 

68 

16 

128 

48 

80 

84 

18 

144 

48 

96 

100 

20 

160 

48 

112 

116 

22 

176 

48 

128 

132 

24 

192 

48 

144 

148 

12 

96 

52 

44 

48 

14 

112 

52 

60 

64 

16 

128 

52 

76 

80 

18 

144 

52 

92 

96 

20 

160 

52 

108 

112 

22 

176 

5^ 

124 

128 

24 

192 

52 

140 

144 

12 

96 

56 

40 

44 

14 

112 

56 

S6 

60 

16 

128 

56 

72 

76 

18 

144 

56 

88 

92 

20 

160 

56 

104 

108 

22 

176 

56 

120 

124 

24 

192 

56 

136 

140 

BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      119 

MAKE-UP   SCHEDULE 


Pages 

12 

14 
16 

18 
20 
22 
24 


12 

14 
16 

18 

20 

22 

24 
10 


8-COLUMN   BASIS 


Total 
Columns 

96 

112 
128 
144 
160 
176 
192 


96 

112 
128 
144 
160 
176 
192 


Columns 
Reading 

60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 


76 
76 
76 
76 

76 
76 
76 


Columns 
Advertising 

36 
52 
68 

84 
100 

116 

132 


20 
36 
52 
68 

84 
100 
116 


To  go  to 
Next  Size 

40 

56 

72 

88 
104 
120 
136 


12 

96 

64 

32 

36 

14 

112 

64 

48 

52 

16 

128 

64 

64 

68 

18 

144 

64 

80 

84 

20 

160 

64 

96 

100 

22 

176 

64 

112 

116 

24 

192 

64 

128 

132 

12 

96 

68 

28 

32 

14 

112 

68 

44 

48 

16 

128 

68 

60 

64 

18 

144 

68 

76 

80 

20 

160 

68 

92 

96 

22 

176 

68 

108 

112 

24 

192 

68 

124 

128 

12 

96 

72 

24 

28 

14 

112 

72 

40 

44 

16 

128 

72 

56 

60 

18 

144 

72 

72 

76 

20 

160 

72 

88 

92 

22 

176 

72 

104 

108 

24 

192 

72 

120 

124 

24 
40 

56 

72 

88 
104 
120 


iHI 


'i 


\ 


1 20      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

MAKE-UP  SCHEDULE 


7-COLUMN 

BASIS 

Total 

Columns 

Columns 

To  go  to 

Pages 

Columns 

Reading 

Advertising 

Next  Size 

12 

84 

40 

44 

48 

14 

98 

40 

58 

62 

16 

112 

40 

72 

76 

18 

126 

40 

86 

90 

20 

140 

40 

100 

104 

22 

154 

40 

114 

118 

24 

168 

40 

128 

132 

12 

84 

44 

40 

44 

14 

98 

44 

54 

58 

16 

112 

44 

68 

72 

18 

126 

44 

82 

86 

20 

140 

44 

96 

100 

22 

154 

44 

no 

118 

24 

168 

44 

124 

132 

12 

84 

48 

36 

40 

14 

98 

48 

50 

54 

16 

112 

48 

64 

68 

18 

126 

48 

78 

82 

20 

140 

48 

92 

96 

22 

154 

48 

106 

no 

24 

168 

48 

120 

124 

12 

84 

52 

32 

36 

14 

98 

52 

46 

50 

16 

112 

52 

60 

64 

18 

126 

52 

74 

78 

20 

140 

52 

88 

92 

22 

154 

52 

102 

106 

24 

168 

52 

116 

120 

12 

84 

56 

28   ' 

32 

14 

98 

56 

42 

46 

16 

112 

56 

56 

60 

18 

126 

56 

70 

74 

20 

140 

56 

84 

88 

22 

154 

56 

98 

102 

24 

168 

56 

112 

116 

I 


'^ 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      121 

MAKE-UP  SCHEDULE 


7 -COLUMN 

BASIS 

Total 

Columns 

Columns 

To  go  to 

Pages 

Columns 

Reading 

Advertising 

Next  Size 

12 

84 

60 

24 

28 

14 

98 

60 

38 

42 

16 

112 

60 

52 

56 

18 

126 

60 

68 

72 

20 

140 

60 

80 

84 

22 

154 

60 

94 

98 

24 

168 

60 

no 

114 

12 

84 

64 

20 

24 

14 

98 

64 

34 

38 

16 

112 

64 

48 

52 

18 

126 

64 

64 

68 

20 

140 

64 

76 

80 

22 

154 

64 

90 

94 

24 

168 

64 

106 

no 

12 

84 

68 

16 

20 

14 

98 

68 

30 

34 

16 

112 

68 

44 

48 

18 

126 

68 

60 

64 

20 

140 

68 

72 

76 

22 

154 

68 

86 

92 

24 

168 

68 

102 

106 

12 

84 

72 

12 

24 

14 

98 

72 

26 

38 

16 

112 

72 

40 

52 

18 

126 

72 

56 

68 

20 

140 

72 

68 

80 

22 

154 

72 

82 

96 

24 

168 

72 

96 

no 

12 

84 

76 

8 

12 

14 

98 

76 

22 

26 

16 

112 

76 

36 

40 

18 

126 

76 

50 

54 

20 

140 

76 

64 

68 

22 

154 

76 

78 

82 

24 

168 

76 

92 

9^ 

i 


1 


I 


122      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

(By  reading  matter  we  mean  everything  in  the  news- 
paper except  paid  advertising.) 

The  fourth  column,  the  number  of  columns  of  ad- 
vertising in  a  normal  paper  of  the  size  fixed  by  the 
number  of  pages  in  the  first  column. 

The  fifth  column,  the  point  where  the  size  of  the 
newspaper  is  to  be  increased.  By  demanding  four 
additional  columns  to  justify  a  larger  paper,  we  se- 
cure sufficient  revenue  to  justify  the  additional  sheet. 
For  example,  a  14-page  paper  on  the  56-column 
standard  becomes  52  columns  of  reading  matter  and 
60  columns  of  advertising  before  we  go  to  16  pages. 

Important  newspapers  like  The  Chicago  Tribune, 
The  Chicago  Daily  News,  The  New  York  World,  and 
The  Washington  Star  have  adopted  the  60-column 
standard  with  success,  while  newspapers  which  try 
to  operate  on  percentage  basis  are  continually  in  hot 
water  and  find  their  editors  needlessly  using  up  paper. 
Even  the  modem  two-cent  paper  does  not  justify  the 
use  of  the  old  fifty-fifty  standard— half  reading  and 
half  advertising — or,  for  that  matter,  40  per  cent, 
reading  and  60  per  cent,  advertising. 

It  is  much  easier  to  decide  on  the  quantity  of 
reading  matter  you  will  give  for  the  one,  two,  or  three 
cents  paid  by  the  reader,  and  stick  to  it,  than  to  be 
at  the  mercy  of  your  advertisers  regarding  the  total 
of  your  print-paper  bill.  Where  there  is  a  gain  of  ads., 
they  are  run  more  solidly,  but  the  advertiser  must  put 
up  with  that  or  stay  out  if  we  are  to  operate  on  a  sound 
basis  and  do  our  part  in  conserving  print  paper. 

As  I  recently  told  a  well-known  newspaper  pub- 
lisher, the  difference  between  operating  on  a  fixed 
standard  basis  and  on  a  fifty-fifty  basis  is  the  dif- 
ference  between   a   smile   and   a   frown.     In   other 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      123 

words,  the  man  who  is  on  a  sound  basis  smiles,  while 
the  one  ever  at  the  mercy  of  factors  beyond  his  con- 
trol has  cause  to  worry. 

If  in  conjunction  with  the  rigid  enforcement  of 
some  such  sane  rule  as  is  here  indicated  the  newspapers 
would  apply  the  pyramid  make-up,  advertising  start- 
ing from  the  lower  right-hand  corner  of  each  page, 
and  reading-matter  at  the  upper  left-hand  corner, 
they  would  soon  discover  how  wasteful  and  profli- 
gate they  had  been  in  the  past. 

Nothing  so  graphically  proves  a  newspaper's  ap- 
parent weakness  as  advertising  alongside  the  left- 
hand  edge  of  pages,  hanging  freely  from  the  top,  or 
made  up  above  reading-matter.  Such  treatment  is 
not  good  for  the  advertiser  or  the  newspaper.  But 
no  one  can  blame  the  advertiser  or  agent  for  seeking 
what  he  thinks  he  wants  if  he  can  get  it. 


i 


!■■)!) 


I 

f 


XX 


Some  Office  Forms  and  Records 

For  the  purpose  of  keeping  track  of  the  volume  of 
advertising  inserted  by  all  local  advertisers  or  any 
group  of  them,  the  forms  in  figures  Nos.  i  and  3  may 
be  used  as  simple  and  effective.  In  a  highly  com- 
petitive field  like  New  York  or  Chicago  such  data 
provide  the  final  check-up  to  ascertain  whether  our 
force  is  getting  its  share  of  any  business. 

Figure  No.  i  shows  a  method  of  watching  the  use 
of  space  by  automobile  concerns  during  the  annual 
show  week  in  New  York.  It  is  a  summarized  report 
for  the  ten  days  or  two  weeks.  Each  day  a  sheet 
like  Figure  No.  2  is  made  up  and  the  totals  from  the 
day  sheets  are  brought  up  to  date. 

Regardless  of  trade  deals  and  special  inducements, 
it  is  interesting  to  know  definitely  what  the  other 
newspapers  are  getting  from  the  various  manufacturers 
in  detail  and  in  total,  both  as  a  check  on  the  efiiciency 
of  the  soliciting  force  and  to  regulate  future  relations 
with  the  manufacturers. 

To  know  exacjtly  what  part  of  its  advertising  a 
certain  automobile  concern  is  giving  to  us  and  to 
other  newspapers  is  often  desirable  in  the  adoption 
of  policy  in  relation  to  consideration  to  be  given  it. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      125 

Following  are  the  specimen  tables  of  automobile 
show  week  advertising : 

SAMPLE   DAILY   REPORT 


I  ! 


Globe 

Auto  Show  GCP 2SS 

Auto  Salon 

Abbott 

Apperson 

Autocar 

Braender  Tires no 

Briscoe 196 

Buick 264 

Chadwick-De  Lamater 

Chalmers S88 

Champion  Ignition 

Chevrolet 140 

Doble 160 

Dodge 660 

Ford 

Grant 42 

Genera!  Engineering 

Goodyear 

Harroun 336 

Haynes 

Houdaille  Shock  Abs 

Hupmobile 

Hamilton  Corp 

Hurlburt 

Interstate 200 

Jeffery-Nash 700 

Kissel 

King 

I/exington 

Liberty 

Locomobile 

Moline-Knight 300 

Maxwell 

Mitchell 

Marmon 

Murray 

Marion-Handley 

National 196 

Owen  Magnetic 390 

Oakland 

Pathfinder 784 

Peerless 

Pierce-Arrow 

Reo 555 

Studebaker 760 

Saxon 100 

Springfield  Body 

Republic  Motor  Truck 

Smith  Form  A  Truck 

Singer 

Scnpps-Booth 

Velie 

White 

Willys-Overland 


January  6,  191 7 


Mail 
500 
140 

252 


196 
264 

588 
520 
255 

660 

60 

42 
ISO 

336 

full  page 

84 

620 

800 

200 

200 
420 

196 


300 
Sii 


196 

390 

420 

680 

720 
full  page 

546 

748 

100 
full  page 

25s 

792 


double  page 


5m  n 
255 


28 


42 


140 
200 

409 
860 


420 
546 


330 


6,736    23.941 


Post 


270 
240 


264 
294 

520 
160 

660 
42 

780 
336 

^'^^ 

600 
800 

150 

700 
420 
640 
196 

140 
300 


full  page 
60 

336 

435 
792 
720 
420 
546 
760 
100 


800 

50 

432 

616 
full  page 


Evening 

World 

255 


3.230        17.737 


42 


Evening 

Journal 

500 


140 
70 


600 
160 

'28 
336 


200 


224 

435 
420 
100 


330 


297 


3. 543 


126      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


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DURING  YEAR  1917 
Evening  Newspaper* 


World 

Journal 

Globe 

MaU 

Sun 

TeUgram 

Post 

'ToUU\ 

136,712 

134,448 

133,429 

124,691 

136.071 

123,455 

123.173 

911.979 

15,825 

147.340 

146,117 

146388 

455.670 

41376 

106.914 

99.711 

97,284 

99.234 

13.517 

458.536 

196,923 

197.947 

6,530 

6,569 

6.504 

11.979 

7,152 

433,604 

47,932 

49.042 

37,159 

46.281 

6.856 

187,270 

8,810 

315,900 

435,721 

424,040 

426,354 

1,610,825 

368,684 

364,460 

81,267 

77.652 

17,484 

79.713 

12,209 

1,001,469 

181,996 

182,160 

161,296 

158,219 

160,586 

3,446 

847,703 

235,730 

10,851 

183,769 

51,019 

219,815 

42,918 

3,815 

747,917 

358,515 

68,976 

12,754 

219,544 

325,227 

198,631 

930 

1,184,577 

466,714 

483,209 

415,120 

24,420 

133,170 

1.522,633 

123.461 

124.983 

49,213 

48,617 

54,483 

1,590 

5,970 

408.317 

534 

19,773 

67,905 

58,438 

146,650 

101,883 

54,602 

80.044 

82,512 

100,447 

8,556 

428,044 

181,077 

56.477 

73362 

163.693 

155,642 

14,348 

82,966 

727.56S 

140,213 

322,026 

474,655 

115,602 

450,894 

485,888 

394,980 
796.740 

2,384,168 

t.606.88S 

2,008.559 

2.S27.364 

2.130.679 

2.243.172 

1,143,528 

13.456,927 

Altxnan .. 

Arnold  CoocuMe  .. 

Be«t 

Bloomingdale 

Bonwit  Teller 

Gimbel 

Greenhut 

Heam 

Lord  flt  Taylor 

McCreery , 

Macy 

Oppenheim  Collins. 
Stewart tt Co..   .... 

Franklin  Simoo. . . . 

Stem 

Wanamaker 

Total 


Lines  of  Dry  Goods  Advertising  in  New  York  Newspapers 

DURING  YEAR  19J7 
Moraing  NewqMpen — Six  Dajrs,  Excluding  Sundays 

World 

Altmaa...,. 38.979 

Arnold  ConstiiUe — — 

Bert 

Bloomincdale 7.203 

Bonwit  Teller 1.500 

Gimbel 4^80 

Greenhut. ..  .'7 5,830 

Hearrt ,....  8,057 

Lord  &  Taylor. .' 48.865 

McCreery 25.649 

M«cy 15,246 

Oppenheim  CoUinc 13,465 

StewartAiCo 1,651 

Franklin  Simoo ,  45,186 

Stem 35,916 

Wanamaker 18,085 

Total..... 270.012       185.901       432,187       677,383       164,558       171,091      1,901,132 

Lines  of  Dry  Goods  Advertising  in  New  York  Newspapers 

DURING  YEAR  191  r 
Sunday  Newspapers 


Altman 

Arnold  Constable. 

Best 

Bloomingdale 

Bonwit  Teller 

Gimbel 

Greenhut 

Heam 

Lord&  Taylor.... 

McCreery 

Macy 

Oppenheim  CoUina 

Stewarts  Co 

Franklin  Simon. . . 

Stem 

Wanamaker, 


American, 

Herald 

Times 

Sun 

Tribune' 

r«tai 

61,683 

32.224 

65,646 

31,283 

34,765 

264.580 

1,096 

20,442 

21.538 

3,094 

9,177 

130 

12,401 

6359 

6,388 

6,304 

6317 

6.381 

38.952 

9,181 

.  10,661 

33,281 

112,598 

150,259 

53M> 

5335 

59,545 

76,100 

6,010 

11377 

997 

26,441 

985 

56,248 

20,515 

24,514 

151,127 

6,049 

26,588 

2320 

1,864 

62,470 

420 

12,294 

150,494 

420 

178,874 

10,395 

2,228 

11359 

2312 

39,759 

1,328 

2.979 

9,026 

10,807 

96,087 

38,182 

48,806 

248.094 

4,589 

11.493 

41,009 

17,676 

8,627 

119310 

44,558 

344384 

47,845 

42,695 

497.567 

•••■•••*• 


iTorU: 

American 

Herald 

Times 

Sun 

Tribune 

Total 

82.043 

80,275 

83,747 

86,301 

83,505 

82,615 

498,486 

77,117 

10.143 

68,243 

155,503 

660 

36,523 

27.282 

59,837 

27,523 

151,825 

112,859 

96,090 

6.225 

6310 

5.017 

4303 

231304 

15,567 

6,455 

62.108 

85,756 

61,384 

231,270 

130,671 

87,874 

129,448 

150 

348,143 

82,820 

78,578 

61.368 

63323 

286,089 

76,130 

80,515 

35365 

70,731 

51,171 

313,912 

162,572 

-4,040 

126.662 

166,202 

60.829 

67/>69 

587394 

225,227 

5,810 

127.041 

225.834 

10.628 

85364 

679.904 

107,012 

76,501 

105,148. 

112.290 

400,951 

54327 

47,868 

41.181 

55,009 

10,263 

208,648 

25.147 

12,790 

7,725 

11,030 

414 

57.106 

36.605 

20,902 

80,242 

129,581 

16,035 

102,933 

386,298 

73,479 

44,788 

58.559 

88,706 

61,387 

15,161 

342,080 

■     ■      ■ 

Total. 


1,185,119       743336       637,881     1355,296       276,104       481,177      4,878,913 


*See  Newspaper  Building  pages  103,   104,  for  yearly   Summary  as  above  for 
years  1915,  1916. 


r—ii"  -  tartrfnttr'-f fi 


m 


'i 


H4i 


Linc$  of  Dry  Goods  Advertising  in  New  York  Newspapers 

DURING  YEAR  ENDING  DECEMBER  31,  1918 


Evening  Newspapers 

World 

Journal 

Globe 

Maa 

Sun 

Telegram 

Post 

Tool 

146,130 

143.498 

143.759 

124,846 

146,547 

128.372 

129,288 

962,440 

9,520 

126.204 

108,882 

125.170 

4,016 

373,792 

105,464 

109,645 

108.557 

7.029 

104.840 

390 

318 

436.243 

179,954 

179.045 

36.232 

26,117 

3,669 

5,698 

3,705 

434,420 

61.443 

61.858 

60.084 

61.99S 

12,371 

257,751 

800 

405,510 

448.010 

426,280 

422.377 

103,477 

1.806,454 

450 

S44 

27.810 

16,645 

49.213 

S.S86 

25.103 

125.351 

220,530 

222,522 

160.044 

188,167 

600 

193,503 

25,383 

1.010.749 

282,691 

945 

159,881 

9,321 

283.512 

.848 

18,314 

755,512 

310,896 

68,075 

285 

160,741 

271.797 

61,975 

3,819 

877,588 

109,533 

336,813 

422,169 

413.441 

398,054 

92,587 

1,772,597 

150,962 

151.526 

113,315 

68.191 

18.579 

502,573 

27,588 

85,902 

81.385 

194,875 

93,662 

92.191 

31.493 

47.082 

89.743 

15.687 

369,858 

184,662 

2,780 

181.253 

93.811 

157.125 

9,180 

70.836 

699,647 

143,477 

360,943 
2,163,483 

461,149 
2,566,147 

168.614 

453.994 

411,441 
1.318,524 

318.322 
738,328 

2317,940 

t,000,174 

1.790,976 

2,320,158 

12,897,790 

Altman 

Arnold,  OMUtable. 

Beit 

Blootningdale 
Bonwit  TelW. .    . . 

Qimbel 

Giddiag. 

Hearn . 

Lord b Taylor.   ... 
McCreery  .   . 

Macy     

Oppenheim,  Collins 

Stewart  8i  Co 

Franklin  Simon.  . . 

Stem 

Wanamaker . . .   . 

Total..     . 


Unes  of  Dry  Goods  Advertising  in  New  York  Newspapers 

DURING  YEAR  ENDING  DECEMBER  31,  1918 

Morninc  Newspapers— Six  Di^^,  ExdacKnv  Sundays 

World     American       Herald  Tiaiet             Sun  Tribunt  Total 

^l^^V,--.-    ■, 5».5«S          72.109         30,234  71,956         28426  33.446  287.655 

Arnold.  Coortahle 5.671               31S  7.052          18.155  13.850  45)043 

2**_:.-   -   1 *3.«79           4,680            52495            100,954 

B^i^Sl"   •• ?'25I           "'*           •'■'"  '•'*«           3.754  3,706  22,226 

B«w,t  Teller ,            1.804            8.021          1344«            1.260  24.433 

SS,^.-    ".951         90,243              645       115,761            22,275  241,876 

Sr*^ .,— -           *."»         «.241  48,292              374  43,234  14U53 

"f*nVJ "•"*         "•*'•         •   -«"  23,100              596  3,528  63,916 

}S^tl*'^"- "■"'            «•"«  «7,10S           8,885  2  040  165,478 

l^'Crt^ 23,833           1,764           9.165         34.915            2.140  71817 

***5'  •.•■■••; 870              285       151.913  162,155              285  12,122  327.630 

Oppenheun   CoUin..'. 16.173          10329           6320         15,590            -U-  -48512 

|**J«*Co. 1.650            1.140  .4,112               720            7  622 

Franklin  Simon 49,203          15,268         73,459  121,406         23,637  45388  328  361 

S?"  •   .-• M-W5           8.415         22,192  86,784          17,035            221361 

Wanamaker.. 59316         65.805       34f,172  375         18.662  14316  501.146 

^«*^ 402,728       3003S1        730384  848.087        120,429       197305  2,599,284 

Lines  of  Dry  Goods  Advertising  in  New  York  Newspapers 

DURING  YEAR  ENDING  DECEMBER  31,  1918 


World 

Altman 8i,203 

Arnold,  ConMable 

B«t 607 

BloooiinKdale 129,751 

Bonwit  Teller 24,263 

Gimbel f^ 147,790 

Oidding. ., 

Hearn... 93.177 

Lord  8i  Taylor 129,981 

McCreery 168,702 

Macy   109,107 

Oppenhetm,  Collin* 64,196 

Stewart  k  Co 6,295 

Franklin  Simon 51,628 

Stem ., 79  950 

Wahamaktr........ 

Total 1,086,650 


Sondar  Newq>apcr8 

Anuriean 

Herald 

Timet 

Sun 

Tribune 

Total 

80.502 

83,452 

84,664 

84.497 

82,903 

497,221 

104,160 

109.426 

666 

214,252 

40,196 

480 

70.022 

111.305 

75,298 

2,656 

44.848 

2,505 

1,627 

256.685 

10,287 

73,702 

98.448 

78,632 

285332 

153,954 

23,254 

148.730 

669 

68,045 

542.442 

21,149 

28,832 

24.001 

24322 

32,555 

122.059 

95,744 

47.477 

87.721 

300 

48,971 

373,390 

118,237 

140.150 

26,601 

3,860 

418,829 

122,257 

164321 

6,195 

461,475 

117.206 

114,871 

90.570 

— — 

16320 

448,274 

17,691 

43,456 

60.150 

185.403 

21,051 

38.394 

14,667 

80.407 

25363 

91,712 

163.963 

28,581 

115,057 

476.304 

37.743 

76355 

85.230 

64,743 

1,890 

346.111 

779,203       847,992    1.410,638       247,751       447,255      4,819,489 


^ 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      129 

In  addition  to  these  summaries  there  is  a  record  of 
the  ntimber  of  lines  taken  by  every  considerable  user 
of  space  among  local  concerns  and  general  advertisers, 
summarized  on  the  form  shown  in  Figure  No.  i. 
This  is  printed  every  month  and  is  watched  with 
much  interest  by  local  advertisers. 

For  each  local  contract  advertiser  a  card  like  form 
No.  5,  in  Chapter  X,  is  issued  and  kept  in  a  card- 
index  box.  At  the  end  of  each  month  the  total  space 
used  by  each  is  entered  on  the  back  of  the  card,  so 
that  at  all  times  there  is  an  exact  record  for  each 
account  of  the  amount  used  and  agreed  upon. 

The  form  herewith  lends  itself  to  easy  use  in  a 
small  loose-leaf  book  with  evening  newspapers  on 
one  page,  morning  newspapers  on  another,  and  Sun- 
day newspapers  on  another.  I  have  compiled  these 
records  for  a  number  of  years,  with  summaries  for 
the  first  quarter,  for  six  months,  for  nine  months,  and 
for  the  full  year,  and  they  make  a  record  well  worth 
the  study  of  any  one  interested  in  spending  money  for 

advertising. 

With  exact  data  of  this  kind  the  newspaper  adver- 
tising manager  knows  more  regarding  what  the  ad- 
vertisers are  doing  than  they  do  themselves.  Armed 
with  this  information,  on  sheets  or  in  loose-leaf  form, 
he  can  often  interest  even  the  largest  local  advertiser 
as  to  what  others  are  doing. 

To  be  able  to  show  a  merchant  exactly  what  ad- 
vertising is  being  done  and  to  tell  him  just  what  he  is 
doing  himself  puts  one  in  an  advantageous  position 
in  talking  business  with  him. 

I  believe  in  "showing"  the  customer  that  I  am 
selling  him  something  more  than  mere  space.  I  seek 
to  convince  him  that  we  study  to  make  his  advertising 


I 


m 


I 


130      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

profitable  to  him  as  sound  business  practice  on  our 
part.  Our  advertising  manager  is  most  effective  when 
he  can  brush  aside  with  facts  false  impressions  in  the 
minds  of  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

The  advertiser  who  makes  a  rash  statement  of  what 
he  is  doing  in  another  newspaper  or  regarding  his 
whole  advertising  policy  can  be  brought  to  earth  by 
the  man  armed  with  facts  and  positive  data  diplo- 
matically presented  at  the  proper  moment.  This  is 
nicely  done  by  some  such  remark  as,   "Why,  Mr. 

,  my  impression  is  so  and  so.     Please  let  me 

refer  to  my  records,"  then  take  the  book  from  your 
pocket  and  let  him  see  the  facts. 


'i 


XXI 

Definite  Proved  Circulation 

Definite  proved  circulation  should  be  the  basis 
of  any  serious  attempt  to  develop  increased  adver- 
tising for  any  medium.  Victor  F.  Lawson,  who, 
with  The  Chicago  Daily  News,  has  stuck  to  that  prin- 
ciple for  upward  of  forty  years,  with  overwhelming 
success,  has  clearly  established  the  soundness  of  play- 
ing fair  and  square  with  the  advertiser. 

In  191 1,  when  The  New  York  Globe  determined  to 
go  from  "gross  print"  as  circulation  to  "net  paid,'* 
we  had  to  admit  that  138,000  gross  print  meant  only 
103,000  sold.  It  was  a  radical  step,  but  it  brought  us 
only  increased  advertising. 

Up  to  that  time  only  one  other  New  York  news- 
paper had  pretended  to  sell  "net  paid."  They  all 
counted  gross  print  where  they  took  the  trouble  to 
count  anything.  Some  of  them  had  traded  on  "high- 
water  mark"  figures,  gross  print  for  some  big  day's 
sales,  far  above  the  net  average. 

When  we  came  out  with  net  figures  our  immediate 
competitors  jumped  at  the  chance  to  overwhelm  us 
with  unproved  figures  against  those  which  we  pre- 
sented after  an  A.  A.  A.  audit,  but  it  profited  them 
nothing  and  incited  me  to  activities  which  resulted 
in  the  organization  of  the  A.  B.  C. 

I  wrote  reams  of  articles  for  the  trade  papers  and 


I 


il 


11 


132      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

traveled  widely  about  the  country,  talking  before 
newspaper  and  advertising  bodies,  trying  to  produce 
some  better  and  more  generally  recognized  method 
for  authenticating  circulation  statements  and  show- 
ing up  the  pretensions  of  those  who  would  not  tell 
the  truth  or  submit  to  audits. 

At  nearly  every  newspaper  gathering  are  men  ready 
to  throw  a  brick  at  the  Audit  Bureau  of  Circulations 
and  claim  that  it  costs  the  publisher  members  too 
much  money;  that  in  no  other  business  is  the  seller 
compelled  to  pay  for  such  work;  that  most  news- 
paper pubHshers  are  honest  and  should  not  be  asked 
for  proof. 

Of  course,  all  of  this  is  humbug,  pure  and  simple. 
Many  of  those  who  form  the  knocker  brigade  remain 
in  it  only  because  they  have  not  given  the  subject 
the  study  which  it  merits.  Before  the  day  of  the  A. 
B.  C.  it  was  well  known  to  many,  whose  business  it 
was  to  get  the  facts,  that  the  average  circulation 
statement  was  from  10  to  25  per  cent,  out  of  line. 

I  do  not  mean  that  that  percentage  of  inaccuracy 
came  from  wilful  misrepresentation  and  fraud,  but 
that,  owing  to  lack  of  standardized  accounting  and 
definite  understanding  of  what  part  of  all  printed 
copies  was  circulation,  there  was  abundant  oppor- 
tunity for  an  honest  man  to  err. 

All  of  this  has  been  brushed  aside.  We  know  what 
is  net  paid  circulation,  and  so  does  the  advertiser, 
and  because  he  knows  this  every  thousand  of  net 
paid  circulation  is  worth  more  to-day  than  it  was 
before  the  A.  B.  C.  standardized  circulation  figures. 
As  the  advertiser  pays  for  whatever  service  he  gets, 
it  is  obvious  that  he  and  not  the  newspapers  pays  for 
A.  B.  C.  audits.    If  any  newspaper  has  not  adjusted 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      133 

the  trifling  additional  expense  of  the  A.  B.  C.  in  recent 
increases  in  advertising  rates.  I  have  yet  to  hear  about 
it.  Yet  there  are  benighted  newspaper  men  who  ob- 
ject on  the  ground  that  they  and  not  the  advertiser 
pay  for  the  service. 

Colonel  Mapes,  of  the  Cream  of  Wheat  Company, 
has  for  many  years  insisted  on  getting  the  circulation 
guaranteed  him  in  the  contracts  he  made  for  adver- 
tising. He  has  brought  many  suits  and  been  instru- 
mental in  exposing  fraud.  He  was  president  of  the 
old  A.  A.  A.  at  the  time  we  changed  it  over  to  the 
A.  B.  C. 

While  the  Colonel  was  ever  willing  to  fight  to  see 
that  he  got  full  measure  of  what  he  bought,  I  was 
fighting  to  compel  other  publishers  to  maintain  the 
standard  of  honest  net  paid  circulation  statements 
that  we  issued.  The  A.  B.  C.  is  the  result  and  I  guess 
the  Colonel  is  as  proud  of  it  as  I  am. 

As  picturing  actual  experience  I  reprint  herewith 

an  article  by  Colonel  Mapes  in  Printers'  Ink  about 

1910: 

Circulation  Juggling  and  the  Advertiser 

I  have  read  with  much  interest  the  article  of  P.  R.  Barney  on 
magazine  circulations,  and  as  you  request  that  I  give  my  views 
on  the  "pay-for-what-you-get  proposition,"  will  do  so  as  briefly 
as  possible,  although  I  fear  the  ground  has  been  pretty  well 
trodden  over  before. 

The  principal  objections  to  the  plan,  which  our  company  has 
pursued,  of  paying  for  what  they  get,  to  judge  by  the  opinions 
expressed  in  Mr.  Barney's  article,  seem  to  be,  briefly  as  follows: 
First,  that  it  is  not  "business-like  for  the  buyer  to  bind  himself 
in  accordance  with  the  figures  kept  by  the  clerks  of  the  seller," 
and  that  it  is  not  feasible,  on  account  of  the  expense,  to  audit  the 
publisher's  books,  and,  even  if  this  were  the  case,  it  would  be 
easy  for  the  pubHshers  to  deceive  the  most  eagle-eyed  auditor, 
if  they  chose  to  do  so;  also  that  the  publishers  would  never  sub- 


I 


m 


134      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

mit  to  having  their  books  audited,  but  would  combine  to  refuse 
it  and  the  poor  advertiser  would  consequently  be  in  the  soup. 

Answering  this:  I  certainly  do  not  consider  it  business-like 
for  a  buyer  to  bind  himself  according  to  the  figures  kept  by  the 
clerks  of  the  seller,  yet  this  is  exactly  what  ninety-nine  out  of  one 
hundred  advertisers  are  doing  at  present  when  they  take  the  circu- 
lation statements  of  the  different  publishers  without  authentication. 
As  to  the  impossibility  of  auditing  the  publisher's  books,  will 
say  we  have  during  the  past  five  or  six  years  audited  the  books 
of  almost  every  leading  magazine  and  similar  publication  in  the 
United  States  and  have  not  found  that  the  expense  entailed  was 
in  any  way  prohibitive.  In  doing  so,  it  is  true,  we  have  frequently 
had  the  publisher  attempt  to  deceive  our  auditors,  and  sometimes 
with  success.  In  the  long  run,  however,  any  one  attempting  to 
deceive  a  competent  auditor  is  almost  sure  to  be  caught.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  think,  in  our  case,  at  least,  they  have  always 
been  caught  sooner  or  later,  and  we  can  assure  you  where  that 
has  been  the  case,  that,  like  the  man  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures, 
"their  latter  state  was  worse  than  their  first." 

As  to  the  publishers  combining  and  refusing  to  accept  the  ad- 
vertisements of  those  who  prefer  to  pay  for  what  they  get  rather 
than  to  buy  gold  bricks;  this  has  been  tried  on  us  many  times, 
but  so  far  has  been  unsuccessful.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  misapprehension  among  the  advertisers  as  to  the 
absolute  necessity  to  them  of  any  given  publication.  Almost  any 
large  advertiser  can  put  half  of  them  in  the  discard  and  still 
have  plenty  left,  and  there  are  enough  publishers  who  are  not 
selling  gold  bricks  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  all  advertisers. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  as  far  as  the  writer  knows  (and  that  after 
auditing,  as  I  say,  nine-tenths  of  the  leading  publications  of  the 
United  States),  there  is  not  to-day  a  publisher  who  has  got  the 
circulation  which  he  claims  who  is  not  perfectly  willing  to  have 
his  books  audited,  while  the  contrary  is  the  case  with  regard  to 
those  who  are  securing  money  under  false  pretenses  by  repre- 
senting that  they  have  a  circulation  which  they  have  not.  The 
percentage  of  padding  I  usually  find  about  15  to  20  per  cent., 
although  I  have  frequently  known  it  to  nm  to  50  per  cent.,  and, 
in  very  rare  instances,  as  high  as  60  or  75  per  cent. 

As  a  fair  example,  I  will,  without  mentioning  any  name  (which 
is  a  thing  contrary  to  our  practice),  cite  what  I  consider  a  fair 
illustration: 


i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      135 

There  is  a  certain  publication  ranking  high  in  the  publishing 
world,  which  during  the  year  1909  carried  approximately  $1,400,- 
000  in  paid  advertising  at  their  card  rate,  we  ourselves  furnishing 
about  $40,000  of  this,  but  with  a  written  guarantee  as  to  circu- 
lation. Our  examination  showed  them  to  be  short  16  per  cent., 
for  which  amount  they  sent  us  their  check.  They  claimed  that 
we  were  the  only  ones  to  whom  they  guaranteed  circulation  or 
to  whom  they  paid  a  rebate.  Now,  if  this  is  the  case,  they  col- 
lected from  their  other  customers  $224,000  under  false  pretenses, 
not  one  cent  of  which  they  were  entitled  to.  This  is  only  an 
average  example  (I  could  cite  dozens  of  them),  nor  is  this  an 
isolated  instance.  The  same  publication  has  been  examined  by 
us  for  the  last  seven  years,  with  the  same  average  result  (one  year 
the  shortage  was  34  per  cent.). 

This  publication  now,  however,  like  many  others  under  like 
circumstances,  says,  ''Never  again,"  basing  their  refusal  to  stand 
another  examination  on  the  ground  that  it  would  not  be  fair  to 
their  other  customers,  which  sounds  a  good  deal  as  though  a  train- 
robber  should  go  back  and  rob  the  sole  remaining  passenger 
whom  he  had  missed  on  his  first  rounds,  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  not  be  fair  to  the  other  passengers  to  let  him  escape.  I 
fear,  however,  that  we  shall  escape. 

I  am  happy  to  say,  however,  that  our  examinations  do  not 
always  pan  out  that  way.  We  paid  one  publication  (carrying 
about  $800,000  of  advertising)  for  the  same  year,  approximately 
$3,000  for  overage,  and  we  were  glad  to  do  it.  In  fact,  we  much 
prefer  paying  for  overage  to  receiving  rebates  for  shortage.  We 
simply  don't  like  to  be  buncoed. 

The  pleas  made  by  another  publisher,  that  if  the  advertising 
business  were  the  same  as  other  business  and  dealt  in  tangible 
things,  this  pay-according-to-circulation  plan  might  be  practical, 
is  very  ably  answered  further  on  in  Mr.  Barney's  article  by  the 
"agency  man"  when  he  says,  "There  is  nothing  more  mysterious 
about  buying  space  than  there  is  about  buying  a  car-load  of 
wheat."  This  is  so  patent  that  it  seems  surprising  that  any  man 
capable  of  conducting  a  successful  business  should  not  see  and 
appreciate  it.  The  majority  of  advertisers,  however,  seem  to  think 
that  the  advertising  proposition  is  something  very  dark  and  mys- 
terious— that  they  must  throw  their  money  up  in  the  clouds,  and 
in  some  inscrutable  way  they  will  get  returns.  There  are  just  two 
things  to  consider  in  buying  advertising  space,  and  only  two. 


ss@ 


ssam 


taam 


H 


136      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

First  is  the  question  of  quality,  which  varies  according  to  the 
requirements  of  each  particular  advertiser,  and  must  be  judged 
by  the  advertiser  for  himself. 

Second,  the  question  of  price,  and  this  includes  the  question 
not  only  of  quality,  but  also  of  circulation,  as  without  a  standard 
unit  of  value  (which,  in  the  case  of  magazines,  would  be  the 
thousands  of  circulation)  the  price  cannot  be  determined. 

The  further  pleas  by  the  successful  publisher,  that  there  must 
be  mutual  confidence  and  the  advertiser  must  trust  the  publisher, 
would  cause  any  one  who  has  any  knowledge  of  the  circulation 
business  to  smile  with  an  exceedingly  broad  smile.  There  are 
publishers  who  can  be  trusted,  and  these  publishers  are  willing 
to  have  their  circulation  examined.  There  may  be  publishers 
who  can  be  trusted  and  who  are  unwilling  to  have  their  circu- 
lation examined,  but  I  have  never  run  across  one  of  them. 


<( 


PULP-MILL  CIRCULATION 


)» 


The  further  statement  that  press-room  figures  should  be  taken 
as  circulation  is  puerile,  from  the  fact  that  press-room  figures 
are  by  no  manner  of  means  always  circulation,  nor  anywhere 
near  it.  We  know  of  an  instance  where  one  of  the  leading  maga- 
zines and  one  of  the  largest  circulation  has  a  news-stand  return 
amounting  to  40  per  cent.,  and  this  news-stand  return  is  sold  to 
the  old-rag  man  and  goes  to  the  pulp-mill.  Is  that  pulp-mill 
circulation  valuable  to  the  advertiser?    I  think  not. 

As  to  the  truth  of  Mr.  Barney's  conclusion:  "Nevertheless, 
the  per-circulation  plan  does  not  continue  to  find  favor  every- 
where and  the  rebate  plan  is  looked  upon  as  clever,  but  imprac- 
tical," deponent  is  unable  to  say.  A  prominent  advertising  man- 
ager once  said  to  me,  after  a  somewhat  extended  discussion, 
"Well,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  I  will  admit  that  the  pub- 
lishing game  is  the  crookedest  thing  on  God's  earth,  but  you 

must  admit  also  that  the  advertiser  is  the  biggest fool  on 

the  face  of  the  earth  who  is  still  engaged  in  business,"  and  I  was 
speechless. 

In  the  long  run,  however,  honesty  has  usually  been  considered 
the  best  policy,  and,  although  they  say  "There  is  a  sucker  bom 
every  minute,"  the  sucker  doesn't  last  long  in  the  advertising 
business  and  we  'av'  'opes. 


XXII 

Office  Conferences 

I  AM  a  great  believer  in  advertising-department 
conferences  at  which  the  editor,  publisher,  business 
manager,  and  advertising  manager  are  brought  into 
man-to-man  contact  with  those  who  daily  go  forth 
to  sell  space.  A  meeting  of  this  sort  every  week  or 
every  month,  if  properly  conducted,  will  do  more  to 
provide  institutional  enthusiasm  in  the  heart  of  the 
humblest  seller  of  space  than  anything  else  that  can 

be  devised. 

For  psychological  reasons  the  advertising  manager 
should  preside.  The  men  look  upon  him  as  their 
leader,  and  if  competent  for  the  job  he  can  arrange 
the  programs  so  as  to  develop  interesting  and  en- 
couraging business  results. 

The  occasional  presence  of  the  editor,  publisher,  or 
business  manager  is  desirable  both  to  listen  to  the 
matters  discussed  and  personally  to  explain  the  pur- 
poses of  the  newspaper,  present  and  prospective. 
Likewise  it  is  a  good  plan  occasionally  to  invite  the 
circulation  manager  and  other  department  heads  to 
listen  and  to  answer  questions. 

The  key-note  to  be  sounded  is  enthusiasm  and 
loyalty.  Develop  the  idea  that  in  seeking  to  induce 
business  men  to  buy  space  the  solicitors  are  in  reality 


Rri 


I  li 


I 


P» 


138      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

rendering  service  to  the  men  they  are  dealing  with. 
It  is  well  to  start  off  with  an  explanation  of  the  most 
notable  achievement  of  the  force  during  the  last 
week,  telling  how  it  was  accompHshed  and  the  argu- 
ments used. 

The  advertising  manager  should  give  every  solicitor 
a  favorable  opportunity  to  tell  of  his  experiences, 
failures  as  well  as  successes,  and  cheer  up  each 
member  of  the  little  army  with  words  of  advice  and 
explanation.  Unless  the  boys  are  shown  that  they 
can  frankly  tell  of  their  hard  luck  without  causing 
merriment,  they  will  lose  half  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  such  conference. 

The  most  successful  solicitors  will  go  on  selling  with- 
out conferences,  but  the  dynamic  influence  of  their 
victories  can  be  multiplied  by  having  them  cheer 
up  those  who  need  inspiration  to  make  them  go  out 
and  secure  similar  results.  Successful  advertising 
soHcitation  is  contagious.  If  one  man  is  bringing  in 
orders  regularly  the  others  soon  reaHze  that  they,  too, 
must  make  good. 

Not  many  years  ago  I  had  an  experience  which  left 
a  lasting  impression  on  my  mind  of  the  value  of 
advertising-department  conferences.  A  very  good 
feature  had  been  kicking  about  an  office  for  two 
months,  and  no  one  seemed  able  to  start  the  thing 
going.  The  office  kid  said  he  would  like  to  try  it. 
He  had  listened  to  the  reports  of  those  who  had  re- 
peatedly fallen  down,  and  had  made  up  his  mind  the 
thing  could  be  done  if  it  was  started  right.  He  got 
the  chance,  and  the  first  day's  work  resulted  in  three 
orders,  the  second  six,  and  within  a  week  the  business 
was  well  under  way. 
At  the  next  weekly  conference  the  ''kid"  told  such 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      139 

a  straight,  easily  understood  story  of  what  he  had  done 
that  the  other  solicitors  each  took  up  some  call-backs 
and  brought  in  contracts.  He  had  sold  service  while 
the  others  had  been  merely  trying  to  peddle  space. 
The  "kid"  of  the  story,  who  then  probably  got  a  ten- 
dollar  retainer  per  week,  is  to-day  the  big  man  in  one 
of  our  largest  advertising  agencies,  getting  heavy 
profits  as  a  result  of  his  ability  to  sell  service. 

The  conference  frequently  develops  a  willingness  on 
the  part  of  the  advertising  manager,  publisher,  or 
business  manager  to  make  a  call  or  do  something  else 
to  help  the  solicitor  put  over  a  contract.  When  the 
solicitor  knows  that  the  whole  organization  is  back 
of  him,  he  generally  approaches  every  prospect  with 
confidence. 

In  a  well-regulated  office  it  is  wise  to  make  the 
soliciting  force  understand  that  no  prospect  is  dead 
till  every  man  has  had  a  try  at  it,  including  the  ad- 
vertising manager,  business  manager,  and  publisher. 
Many  a  prospect  one  solicitor  thinks  hopeless  can  be 
brought  in  by  another.  It  is  therefore  well  to  en- 
courage men  to  turn  in  accounts  they  cannot  land 
promptly,  rather  than  sit  on  them. 

Aside  from  salaries  or  salaries  and  commissions, 
it  is  well  to  offer  small  or  substantial  prizes,  awards, 
or  salary  advances  for  good  work,  to  be  announced  at 
the  conferences.  The  acknowledgment  of  individual 
success  before  the  whole  organization  is  conducive  to 
general  efficiency. 

An  occasional  big  conference  or  dinner  of  the 
entire  working  establishment,  with  home  speakers  at 
one  time  and  big  local  or  national  figures  at  others, 
will  be  found  to  put  pep  into  a  force.  Good-fellow- 
ship begets  good  work,  and  when  a  pressman  sits 


I 


140     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

between  the  editor  and  the  publisher  and  a  com- 
positor or  reporter  gets  up  and  makes  a  spirited  talk 
of  institutional  purpose  or  even  sings  a  song,  every 
one  present  feels  the  stimulus  of  a  common  purpose. 
When  every  man  on  the  force  understands  all  about 
the  paper  he  is  working  on  and  sees  what  others  are 
doing  to  produce  the  dollars  to  fill  his  pay-envelop, 
he  will  be  inclined  to  boost  the  institution  at  every 
opportunity.  With  the  organization  widely  scattered 
and  never  coming  together,  much  of  the  force  of 
cohesive  effort  is  lost. 


I 


XXIII 

How  to  Increase  Advertising  Rates 

The  raising  of  advertising  rates  is  not  half  so  diffi- 
cult as  many  think  it,  regardless  of  competitive  con- 
ditions. Even  where  the  other  fellows  are  silly  enough 
to  give  away  their  space,  the  man  with  stamina 
enough  to  demand  a  fair  return  for  service  rendered 
will  in  the  long  run  come  out  on  top. 

Notwithstanding  the  tendency  of  newspapers  to 
proclaim  their  superiority  by  imposing  figures  of  ad- 
vertising space  used,  an  inclination  often  yielded  to 
with  injurious  results,  I  beUeve  in  ignoring  such 
figures  among  my  competitors  and  demanding  a  fair 
and  profitable  rate. 

No  newspaper  that  I  know  of  has  the  local  adver- 
tising situation  in  as  satisfactory  shape  as  The  Phila- 
delphia Bulletin,  which  has  never  encouraged  heavy 
use  of  space  by  cuts  in  rates.  As  described  on  pages 
42,  43,  and  44  of  Newspaper  Building,  Mr.  McLean 
did  not  believe  in  printing  more  than  sixteen  pages 
in  a  paper  sold  for  one  cent,  and  he  established  and 
maintained  rates  which  encouraged  the  small  ad- 
vertiser and  held  the  big  fellows  down  to  reasonable 
proportions. 

No  newspaper  in  the  United  States  ranks  higher 
in  the  minds  of  advertisers  generally  than  The  Bul- 


■mhth 


142      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

letiny  for  its  circulation  covers  a  territory  equal  to 
any,  and,  thanks  to  the  admirable  way  the  paper  is 
made  up,  even  the  little  fellows  get  a  chance  to  be 
heard.  This  is  in  striking  contrast  to  conditions  in 
many  other  great  newspapers  where  the  big  ads.  com- 
pletely blanket  and  nullify  the  small  ones. 

The  best  way  to  raise  advertising  rates  is  to  advance 
them  by  degrees.  Each  increase  should  be  so  trifling 
that  the  stores  which  reap  profits  from  the  use  of 
space  will  not  be  likely  to  question  it  or  drop  out 
at  the  risk  of  losing  the  regular  day  in  and  day  out 
appeal  to  your  readers. 

During  1 91 6  and  191 7  we  advanced  the  rates  on 
The  New  York  Globe  seven  times,  with  the  loss  of 
but  one  big  account.  This  was  done  by  a  series  of 
readjustments  throughout  the  rate  card  made  every 
two  or  three  months,  as  described  in  Chapter  XXVI 
of  Newspaper  Building.  At  each  lift  we  gave  all 
advertisers  the  opportunity  to  go  for  a  full  year  at 
the  then  existing  rate,  which  was  fair. 

By  the  time  we  had  made  the  second  or  third  shift 
it  became  a  mere  matter  of  bookkeeping  with  our 
customers  to  make  a  new  contract  at  the  new  rate 
or  ride  along  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  at  the 
rate  specified  in  their  contracts.  After  four  or  five 
months,  instead  of  the  full  year,  we  were  getting  a 
fine  return  in  the  way  of  a  higher  average  net  rate. 

By  the  time  the  full  year  had  rolled  around  most 
of  our  old  customers  were  operating  under  contracts 
at  two  or  three  cents  more  a  line  than  they  or  we 
expected  at  the  time  we  started  boosting  rates  to 
meet  increasing  war  costs. 

Many  newspaper  owners  hesitate  to  raise  adver- 
tising rates  for  fear  of  permitting  a  competitor  to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      143 

swing  successfully  across  the  line  of  success.  There 
are  those,  too,  who  believe  a  rate  made  years  ago  is 
good  enough  for  all  time  and  should  not  be  disturbed. 

Such  conceptions  of  business  provide  opportunities 
for  advertisers  to  revel  in  a  waste  of  print  paper, 
and  had  much  to  do  in  bringing  about  the  print- 
paper  shortage  of  the  last  two  years.  Too  low  adver- 
tising rates  are  as  serious  a  menace  as  too  high  rates, 
such  as  are  exacted  by  the  European  newspapers. 

Unless  a  big  city  newspaper  can  get  at  least  one- 
tenth  of  a  cent  a  Hne  per  thousand  from  the  largest 
buyers  of  its  space,  and  about  one-eighth  of  a  cent 
a  line  from  smaller  users,  it  is  selHng  its  advertising 
at  too  low  a  figure.  Present  high  prices  of  print  paper 
indicate  that  even  these  rates  per  line  per  thousand 
are  too  low.  To  get  a  correct  view  of  the  situation, 
I  refer  to  Chapter  XXVII  of  Newspaper  Buildings 
where  a  simple  cost-finding  formula  is  presented. 

As  set  up  in  a  previous  chapter,  it  is  not  primarily 
what  space  costs  an  advertiser,  and  whether  it  pro- 
duces results  for  him,  that  should  concern  him.  Of 
course  he  will  buck  like  an  untamed  bronco  at  any 
suggestion  of  an  increase  in  rates,  but  if  convinced 
that  you  mean  to  get  the  price  he  will  come  to  his 
mutton  just  the  same  as  he  does  when  he  pays  higher 
prices  for  other  commodities. 

The  trick  in  getting  higher  rates  consists,  as  I  have 
said,  in  making  the  advances  by  gradual  steps,  so 
that  at  no  time  is  the  amount  large  when  figured  out 
in  dollars  and  cents.  An  advance  of  one  cent  a  line 
on  a  10,000-line  contract  is  only  $100.  If  you  go  at  the 
advertiser  for  a  five-cent  lift  all  at  once  on  a  100,000- 
line  contract  he  says  to  himself,  "$500  increase?  I 
won't  stand  for  it,"  and  the  fat  is  in  the  fire. 


Ill 


'  i 


U 


i  '^ 


ii 


jiii 


;  I 
:  I 


144      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

When  the  fat  is  in  the  fire  the  best  course  is  to  let 
it  stay  there  and  sizzle.  If  you  reach  in  to  rescue  it 
you  are  apt  to  get  your  hand  burnt.  Let  the  advertiser 
try  to  pull  it  out.  Before  long  he  will  be  back,  be- 
cause in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  as  I  have  said  more  than 
once,  he  needs  your  space  more  than  you  need  the 
few  dollars  of  profit  made  from  his  account. 

The  way  out,  then,  is  to  advance  your  rates  grad- 
ually and  by  as  painless  stages  as  possible,  recognizing 
that  certain  very  close  buyers  will  kick  anyhow  and 
that  it  is  occasionally  a  good  demonstration  of  in- 
dependence that  So-and-so  is  out  because  he  will 
not  pay  rates. 

If  all  the  big  advertisers  of  a  town  refuse  to  stand 
for  an  increase  in  rates,  the  way  to  their  hearts  is  to 
announce  another  more  radical  advance  and  special 
inducements,  if  necessary,  to  smaller  people.  The 
big  fellows  are  only  big  if  we  think  them  big  and  take 
them  at  their  own  estimate.  In  many  cases  we  have 
made  them  big  by  the  foolish  way  we  have  permitted 
them  to  buy  space  cheaper  than  others. 


XXIV 

Sources  of  Inspiration 

Any  man  who  wishes  to  be  fully  equipped  as  an 
advertising  manager  or  effective  salesman  should  in- 
vest a  few  dollars  in  the  best  books  written  by  men 
who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  successful  demon- 
stration of  advertising  and  salesmanship. 

Among  those  I  would  recommend  are: 

Awakening  of  American  Business,  by  Edward  N. 
Hurley. 

The  New  Business,  by  Harry  Tipper. 

Men  Who  Sell  Things,  by  W'alter  D.  Moody. 

Advertising  as  a  Selling  Force,  by  Paul  T.  Cherring- 
ton. 

The  First  Advertising  Book,  by  Paul  T.  Cherrington. 

Crowds,  by  Gerald  Stanley  Lee. 

The  Manual  of  Successful  Store-keeping,  by  W.  R. 

Hotchkin. 

Thoughts  on  Business,  by  Waldo  W.  Warren. 

Advertising  —  Selling  the  Consumer,  by  John  Lee 
Mahin. 

Ads.  and  Sales,  by  Herbert  N.  Casson. 

How  to  Reduce  Selling  Costs,  by  Paul  E.  Derrick. 

Newspaper  Advertising,  by  George  H.  E.  Hawkins. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  Printer,  by  John  Clyde  Oswald. 


♦( 


I 

1 


I 

k 


146     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  scores  of  excellent  books 
which  can  be  picked  up  by  the  man  who  wishes  to 
build  his  edifice  on  the  foundations  laid  down  by  those 
who  have  gone  before  and  to  reach  higher  points 
of  achievement  than  was  possible  for  the  pioneers. 

These  trade  papers  and  magazines  should  come 
regularly  to  the  desk  or  home  of  every  wide-awake 
advertising  manager  if  he  would  keep  abreast  of  the 
times : 

Printers'  Ink 

Advertising  and  Selling 

Editor  &  Publisher 

Forbes'  Magazine 

Fourth  Estate 

Judicious  Advertising 

System 

To  clip  out  and  file  properly  pertinent  articles  from 
these  and  other  publications  is  to  build  up  a  back- 
ground of  informatory  data  which  is  invaluable  as 
time  goes  on. 

Merely  to  clip  the  articles  and  file  them  leaves  a 
lasting  impression  on  the  mind,  which  comes  into 
play  with  powerful  effect  most  unexpectedly  at  some 
important  moment.  One  learns  to  visualize  almost 
anything  he  has  filed  away. 


PART  III 


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XXV 


The  Solicitor  of  Early  Days 


Before  taking  up  the  details  of  other  devices  for 
the  development  of  new  lines  of  advertising,  I  shall 
briefly  review  some  of  my  experiences  with  adver- 
tisers in  New  York,  Chicago,  and  other  cities,  for 
the  purpose  of  providing  still  further  background 
which  may  be  of  value  to  those  brought  sharply 
up  against  similar  situations  in  their  solicitation  and 
constructive  work. 

The  man  unqualified  by  experience  in  salesman- 
ship and  unable  to  meet  almost  any  situation  which 
skilful  buyers  can  devise  is  seriously  handicapped  in 
the  work  of  selling  advertising  or  any  other  com- 
modity. With  salesmanship  of  the  highest  order  go 
an  understanding  of  human  nature  and  knowledge 
of  where  to  strike  hard,  when  to  avoid  producing  a 
climax,  when  to  stop  talking,  and  how  to  leave  things 
in  shape  for  further  calls. 

Many  a  solicitor  has  talked  himself  out  of  a  sale 
just  the  same  as  many  others  have  failed  because 
their  selling  talk  was  mere  chatter.  As  far  back  as 
the  late  '8o's  I  tried  to  sell  space.  Looked  upon  from 
the  standpoint  of  my  present  knowledge,  I  was  as 
little  equipped  to  do  that  then  as  I  would  have  been 
to  run  an  ocean  steamer,  and  yet  I  was  no  worse  off 

12 


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ISO      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

in  knowledge  of  what  I  was  trying  to  sell  than  many 
of  those  trying  to  sell  advertising  to-day. 

I  shall  relate  some  of  my  early  experiences  analyzed 
in  the  light  of  later-day  knowledge  for  the  reader  able 
to  profit  by  frank  confession  and  to  avoid  the  traps 
and  entanglements  into  which  I  fell  in  my  quest  for 
business. 

I  had  been  brought  up  in  a  newspaper  office,  had 
worked  in  nearly  every  department,  and  was  finally 
set  loose  on  the  advertiser.  I  knew  absolutely  noth- 
ing regarding  salesmanship,  and  merely  called  on  the 
prospect  for  the  purpose  of  asking  him  to  authorize 
us  to  print  a  certain  piece  of  copy.  There  was  no 
argument  beyond  my  claims  regarding  circulation  and 
his  use  of  another  newspaper  and  his  statement  of 
reasons  for  not  giving  me  the  copy.  It  was  copy- 
chasing  of  the  crudest  sort.  I  soon  found  that  I 
could  approach  business  men  with  a  satisfactory  de- 
gree of  ease  and  secure  a  goodly  proportion  of  the 
copy  I  went  after,  but  sensed  something  lacking  in 
the  whole  basis  of  solicitation. 

I  did  not  have  a  definite  strtement  of  circulation 
to  lean  upon.  When  I  asked  for  exact  details  I  found 
the  management  dodged  the  issue  and  would  give 
me  nothing  but  a  cold  figure  which  all  must  accept 
as  accurate,  without  analysis  or  detail  regarding  dis- 
tribution or  changes  from  week  to  week.  Being  sus- 
picious regarding  the  circulation  figures  given  out, 
I  made  personal  investigation  and  found  the  state- 
ment to  be  a  gross  misrepresentation  by  at  least 
40,000.  When  confronted  with  proof  of  this  the 
business  manager  said  all  papers  did  the  same  thing 
and  that  it  didn't  make  any  difference,  anyway. 
This  gave  me  a  new  idea  of  the  situation  and  the  de- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      151 

termination  then  formed  to  correct  the  abuse  I  ad- 
hered to  until,  over  thirty  years  later,  I  was  able  to 
play  the  game  on  the  level  with  The  Globe. 

I  still  continued  to  sell  advertising  because  I  had 
made  up  my  mind  to  stick  to  the  thing  until  I  had 
mastered  it  and  got  to  the  top.  As  I  plodded  along 
in  more  or  less  intimate  contact  with  advertisers  I 
studied  their  copy,  the  results  they  said  they  got, 
and  all  angles  of  the  business.  I  did  not  know  how 
valuable  these  years  of  experience  among  crude  con- 
ditions were  going  to  be  to  me  later  on  —  I  was 
growing  up  from  youth  to  manhood  side  by  side  with 
modem  effective  advertising. 

I  well  remember  the  first  impression  made  upon 
me  by  one  of  the  first  brilliant  exemplars  of  spread- 
eagle  advertising.  He  was  a  Scotchman  from  Canada 
who  first  set  the  New  York  advertising  world  on 
fire.  He  was  an  all-around  good  fellow  who  simply 
took  our  local  advertisers  by  storm,  literally  hypno- 
tized them  to  use  bigger  copy  than  they  had  ever 
used,  and  in  many  cases  produced  satisfactory  re- 
sults for  them.  He  didn't  last  long;  drink  and  the 
gay  life  got  him,  as  it  has  a  whole  series  of  others 
who  have  since  followed  in  his  shoes. 

In  those  days  the  man  who  could  joyously  and 
agreeably  spend  most  money  with  the  advertiser  or 
agent  most  frequently  got  the  bulk  of  the  business. 
Over  the  bar  and  round  the  lunch-table  the  glib 
hypnotist  got  orders  which  never  could  have  been 
secured  in  less  genial  surroundings.  But  the  pace 
was  devastating. 

Dissipation  of  various  sorts  got  nearly  all  of  the 
solicitors  of  this  type.  Of  the  men  working  on  ad- 
vertising in  New  York  during  the  late  '8o's  and  early 


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152      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

'go's  in  a  prominent  way,  there  are  not  half  a  dozen 
left  in  the  ring  to-day.  Those  who  have  survived 
now,  either  in  the  newspaper  business  or  out  of  it, 
are  those  who  kept  clear  of  the  barrooms  and  restau- 
rants where  liquor  was  the  lever.  The  day  has  gone 
by,  never  to  return,  when  wining  and  dining  are  a 
necessary  part  of  advertising  solicitation.  I  have 
seen  many  of  the  most  brilHant  men  entering  the  busi- 
ness destroyed  by  booze,  and  know  from  experience 
that  the  space-buyer  views  with  suspicion  the  enter- 
tainment argument  for  the  business  he  is  placing. 

Our  more  conservative  newspapers  nowadays  will 
not  employ  a  solicitor  who  takes  a  drink  during  busi- 
ness hours  or  shows  signs  of  drinking.  We  don't  want 
that  sort  of  man  to  represent  us  in  calling  on  our 
customers.  When  we  consider  that  the  newspaper- 
man is  probably  asked  to  take  more  drinks  by  those 
with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  than  almost  any  one 
else,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  an  iron-clad  rule  is  the  only 
protection  he  has. 

I  had  not  intended  to  make  an  argument  for  tem- 
perance, but  the  subject  is  so  important  in  its  bearing 
upon  advertising  soHcitation  and  the  advertising  busi- 
ness in  general  that  I  have  presented  it  as  a  basic 
principle  in  my  consideration  of  the  pitfalls  and 
things  to  be  avoided  in  the  business.  If  inclined  to 
drink,  give  up  connection  with  the  advertising  busi- 
ness. It  has  got  the  best  of  them  and  will  get  you. 
No  man  with  a  weakness  that  way  can  survive.  The 
drinking  good-fellow  advertising  solicitor  is  fore- 
ordained to  the  drunkard's  grave. 


i 


XXVI 

Vital  Thoughts  for  Would-be  Solicitors 

During  those  early  days  my  solicitation  was  among 
the  big  stores  then  on  Canal  and  Grand  Streets  ex- 
tending well  over  toward  Second  Avenue.  As  I  look 
back  upon  what  passed  as  big  stores  those  days,  our 
modem  specialty  shops  with  their  beautiful  appoint- 
ments seem  like  palaces  in  contrast,  while  up-to- 
date  big  shops  like  Altman's,  Lord  &  Taylor's,  Arnold 
Constable's,  and  Stern  Brothers'  were  beyond  the 
dreams  of  the  merchant  prince  a  generation  since. 
Nevertheless,  the  old  magnates  thought  themselves 
even  more  important  than  do  the  executives  of  our 
present  greatest  department  stores. 

For  example,  it  is  much  easier  to  secure  access  to 
the  big  man  at  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.,  Gimbel  Brothers, 
or  John  Wanamaker  in  New  York,  or  Marshall  Field 
&  Co.,  The  Fair,  or  Carson,  Pirie,  &  Scott's  in 
Chicago,  than  it  was  to  reach  the  owner  of  one  of  the 
old-style  big  shops.  Advertising  in  those  days  did 
not  mean  so  much  to  the  merchants  as  it  does  now. 
They  rather  dodged  the  issue  and  purposely  made  it 
difficult  for  solicitors  to  see  them.  I  well  remember 
my  first  big  experience  in  tackling  the  lion  in  his  den 
during  the  early  '8o's. 

My  call  was  upon  Mr.  Ridley,  the  head  of  Ridley 


'in 


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154      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

&  Co.,  on  Grand  Street,  for  the  purpose  of  asking  for 
a  rate  increase.     As  I  said  before,  I  was  a  mere  inex- 
perienced boy,  but  ranked  as  advertising  manager  of 
my  grandfather's  newspaper.     There  were  no  tele- 
phones in  those  days,  and  horse-cars  provided  the 
service  now  rendered  by  Elevated  roads  and  Sub- 
ways.    By  appointment  through  the  store's  advertis- 
ing manager  I  put  in  an  appearance  at  Mr.  Ridley's 
office,  presented  my  card,  and  was  ushered  into  the 
den.     Without  so  much  as  a  greeting,  I  met  this: 
"Well,  my  boy,  we  have  about  made  up  our  minds 
to  reduce  our  appropriation  for  advertising,  so  I  don't 
think  there  is  any  use  of  talking.     If  you  have  any 
better  terms  to  submit  through  our  agent,  please  do 
so,"  and  I  found  myself  being  led  from  the  operating- 
room. 

To  say  that  I  was  filled  with  dismay  is  to  put  it 
lightly.  When  I  made  the  report  to  the  office,  one 
of  the  older  men  most  casually  said:  "Don't  take  that 
to  heart.  The  old  man  was  merely  making  a  play 
for  a  lower  rate."  In  the  light  of  later  experiences  I 
reaHze  I  had  been  made  the  victim  of  a  scene  created 
for  the  purpose  of  buying  as  cheaply  as  possible. 
When  I  called  again  a  week  or  two  later  I  did  the 
talking  first,  but  finally  got  another  jolt  in  a  state- 
ment that  the  firm  had  decided  to  cut  us  off.  I  was 
told  there  was  no  use  putting  up  an  argument,  and 
again  ushered  out  into  the  cold  world. 

Again  I  waited  a  few  weeks,  the  business  mean- 
while being  sent  down  to  us  every  Saturday  at  the  old 
rate,  and  secured  another  appointment.  This  time 
my  instructions  were  to  tell  him  no  more  business 
would  be  taken  under  old  conditions.  Of  course  my 
little  speech  produced  a  pretended  storm,  and  again 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      155 

I  got  a  cool  dismissal  from  the  interview,  but  two 
days  later  the  advertising  agent  called  at  the  office 
to  say,  "It  is  all  right;  we  will  pay  the  new  rate," 
which  was  as  far  as  we  went  in  the  way  of  making 
contracts  in  those  days. 

I  cite  this  incident  only  to  show  the  methods  re- 
sorted to  by  the  buyers  of  space  to  continue  an  old 
rate  as  long  as  possible  and  to  induce  some  special 
lower  price  if  possible.  Under  modem  conditions 
the  same  results  are  produced  by  different  methods 
under  new  scenic  effects  and  perhaps  more  effectively. 
The  modern  outer  office  generally  has  a  softer  chair. 
The  solicitor  is  generally  very  cordially  received  and 
told  the  same  story  with  a  touch  of  regret  like  a 
swan-song. 

My  second  experience  was  with  a  firm  farther  up- 
town, who  employed  the  cleverest  buyer  of  space  I 
have  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting.  This  fellow 
outwardly  really  loved  everybody,  though  I  never 
heard  of  his  lending  any  money  to  any  one  or  giving 
up  copy  except  as  bait  for  some  trap.  He  generally 
kept  you  away  from  the  thing  you  were  after  with 
what  I  now  call  "exhausted  appropriation  stuff,"  by 
saying:  "My  boy,  there  is  no  use  talking,  we  can't 
use  your  paper  now.  We  have  spent  practically  all 
we  are  going  to."    But  he  would  always  manage  to 

get  in :   "I  certainly  would  like  to  be  in  the .    By 

the  way,  I  just  happened  to  think  of  a  little  money 
we  laid  aside  for  program  advertising.  I  might  cut 
off  a  slice  of  this  if  you  will  make  me  an  inducement." 

I  fell  for  this  blarney  twice,  and  each  time  for  a 
"bust"  in  rates.  By  playing  one  newspaper  against 
another  and  making  them  all  hungry  for  a  piece  of 
the  business  the  man  for  years  bought  space  from 


I 

) 


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156      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

most  of  the  New  York  newspapers  at  lower  rates 
than  any  one  else.  As  I  grew  older  and  more  ex- 
perienced in  sword-play  I  enjoyed  battling  wits  with 

Brother ,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  sharpen 

my  sword  for  more  worth-while  people  who  would 
stay  put  when  once  we  reached  an  understanding. 

Nowadays  the  up-to-date  newspaper  keeps  a  run- 
ning record  of  every  line  of  advertising  used  by  all 
regular  advertisers  in  every  competing  paper,  and 
thus  often  really  has  a  better  line  on  what  the  various 
advertisers  are  doing  than  they  have  themselves.  In 
my  calls  on  advertisers  I  always  carry  a  mass  of 
this  material,  so  as  to  be  able  to  show  what  other 
advertisers  are  doing  and  hold  the  prospect  down  to 
actual  facts  regarding  his  own  use  of  space.  My 
record-book,  filed  in  a  small  loose-leaf  folder,  cover- 
ing many  years  and  in  shape  for  quick  comparison 
by  month,  by  quarter,  by  six  months,  and  by  year, 
is  generally  studied  with  great  care  by  all  who  see  it. 

In  my  early  days  I  had  nothing  of  the  kind  to 
attract  the  interested  attention  of  the  buyer,  and  more 
often  than  not  was  thrown  widely  off  the  track  re- 
garding the  volume  he  was  using  in  other  papers, 
and  could  not  talk  intelligently  about  what  part 
of  his  appropriation  he  should  use  in  the  one  I  repre- 
sented. 

This  brings  me  to  another  point  of  inestimable  value 
in  solicitation.  The  solicitor  generally  confines  his 
talk  to  a  rate  for  so  many  thousand  lines  or  inches, 
with  the  merchant  merely  listening  to  the  chatter, 
but  always  calculating  the  total  cost  as  so  many 
thousand  dollars.  To  him  a  boost  of  two  cents  per 
line  may  mean  $2,000  more  money,  and  while  you 
are  confining  your  talk  to  justifying  the  rate  per  line, 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     157 

he  is  figuring  whether  your  paper  is  worth  $2,000 
more  money  for  the  year.  To  argue  for  the  money 
represented  by  the  rate  increase  is  often  to  hit  directly 
on  the  bull's-eye  and  secure  the  prospect's  notice. 

I  am  now  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  if  the  news- 
papers as  individual  units,  and  collectively  by  section 
or  state,  were  to  gather  this  information  or  other 
data  asked  for,  and  supply  it  through  the  advertising 
agent,  we  would  be  using  it  to  better  advantage. 

The  agent  naturally  desires  to  make  his  customer 
believe  that  he  is  rendering  the  fullest  possible  ser- 
vice, and,  as  I  have  indicated  in  an  earlier  chapter, 
frequently  knocks  any  outside  service. 

Therefore,  if  our  newspapers  would  make  their  ser- 
vice devices  functionate  through  responsible  service 
agencies,  they  would  produce  more  satisfactory  use 
and  recognition  of  the  service  they  perform. 


1  w 


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XXVII 

The  Peacemaking  Solicitor 

Looking  back  upon  my  early  experience,  the  pleas- 
antest  one  was  in  connection  with  an  account  which 
had  been  badly  handled  in  The  New  York  Sun  before 
I  took  my  job  as  advertising  solicitor  on  that  news- 
paper. If  my  memory  serves  me  correctly,  the  Hawes 
Hat  Company  had  ordered  a  certain  ad.  in  The  Sun- 
day Sun  which  through  some  mistake  was  published 
in  The  Evening  Sun,  Mr.  Hawes  properly  refused  to 
pay  for  the  erroneous  insertion,  while  the  Sun  office 
insisted  that  he  must  or  keep  out  of  the  paper. 

My  job  was  to  get  business  for  The  Sun.  In  asking 
for  assignments  I  happened  upon  an  ad.  of  the  Hawes 
Hat  Company,  and  was  told  that  there  was  no  use 
calling  there,  as  the  concern  had  been  out  of  the  paper 
for  years  because  it  refused  to  pay  for  an  ad.  I 
stuck  to  my  knitting,  and  was  finally  told  I  could  call 
on  the  Hawes  people,  but  that  there  was  no  use  talk- 
ing business  to  them  unless  they  would  pay  up. 

My  first  call  was  devoted  to  listening  to  a  tirade  of 
criticism  of  the  Sun  management  and  a  rather  abusive 
treatment  of  my  nerve  in  calling.  I  went  back  with 
the  statement  that  I  called  in  the  line  of  making 
my  living,  that  I  knew  The  Sun  would  sell  hats  for 
them,  and  that  I  wanted  to  get  their  side  of  the  story 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      159 

to  enable  me  to  try  to  adjust  the  difference.  It  was 
a  most  difficult  diplomatic  effort  to  obtain  an  inter- 
ested audience,  but  I  finally  succeeded.  The  ad- 
vertiser was  more  positive  than  the  newspaper  in  his 
conclusion,  and,  if  I  remember  correctly,  backed  up 
his  statement  by  producing  a  duplicate  of  the  original 
order. 

When  I  returned  to  the  Sun  office  on  my  peace 
mission  my  reception  was  colder  than  the  one  I  had" 
had  with  the  advertiser.  Mr.  W.  M.  Laffan,  the 
publisher,  had  given  the  order,  and  Mr.  Paddock,  the 
business  manager,  was  as  solid  as  a  stone  wall  against 
any  compromise.  By  sticking  to  my  task,  first  going 
to  the  Hawes  Hat  Company  and  then  back  to  the 
Sun  office,  fairly  exuding  my  conviction  that  both 
sides  were  foolishly  losing  money  and  opportunity 
through  the  misunderstanding,  I  finally  got  a  con- 
tract from  Mr.  Hawes  contingent  upon  the  cancela- 
tion of  the  disputed  item,  which  I  got  the  Sun  people 
to  accept. 

I  relate  the  experience  only  to  show  that  the  solici- 
tor may  have  as  much  trouble  with  the  office  end  of 
an  account  as  with  the  prospect.  I  acted  as  peace- 
maker in  several  other  cases  for  The  Sun,  and  ever 
after  have  taken  particular  satisfaction  in  producing 
such  results  by  applying  horse  sense  and  reason  to 
situations  largely  produced  by  innocent  misunder- 
standings that  have  taken  on  the  proportions  of  bitter 
feuds. 

Shortly  before  my  work  on  The  New  York  Sun  I 
had  had  some  experience  when  acting  as  advertising 
manager  of  the  old  Chicago  Inter-Ocean.  I  had  joined 
the  paper  as  a  complete  stranger  to  the  town,  most 
unexpectedly  when  on  the  way  farther  West.     It 


I 


i6o     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

was  an  also-ran  newspaper  which  had  suffered  from 
bad  management  for  years  and,  owned  by  Yerkes, 
then  the  local  street-car  magnate,  was  hopeless  from 
every  standpoint. 

Such  a  thing  as  a  definite  fixed  rate  for  local  busi- 
ness was  about  as  unknown  in  the  Inter-Ocean  office 
as  was  a  definite  knowledge  regarding  circulation. 
At  one  time  its  owner  had  been  called  on  a  circula- 
tion challenge  by  another  newspaper,  when  it  was 
proved  that  the  presses  were  started  with  the  indica- 
tors at  25,000  every  day.  I  found  such  a  variety  of 
rates  that  I  prepared  an  indexed  vest-pocket  booklet 
to  refresh  my  mind  before  entering  the  door  of  the 
various  State  Street  shops.  The  rates  for  Simday 
advertising  varied  from  8  to  40  cents  per  line,  while 
on  week-days  they  varied  from  5  to  30  cents. 

AH  the  big  stores  were  supposed  to  pay  16  cents  per 
line  for  their  Sunday  space.  It  was  not  until  I  had  been 
in  the  place  for  a  month  or  two  and  it  became  necessary 
to  renev/  contracts  that  I  discovered  what  conditions 
existed  and  prepared  my  little  book.  The  Fair  got 
a  secret  rebate  of  50  per  cent.,  Siegel  Cooper  got  a  re- 
bate of  25  per  cent.,  Mandel  Bros.,  Schlessinger  & 
Mayer,  got  a  rebate  of  6  cents  per  line,  and  so  on, 
with  only  one  firm,  John  M.  Smyth,  paying  the  full 
16  cents  without  drawback  of  any  kind. 

One  day  the  bookkeeper  by  mistake  sent  the  bill 
of  the  Woolf  Clothing  Co.  to  Sol  Woolf ,  and  there  was 
considerable  of  a  circus  to  straighten  out,  for  the 
former  had  a  much  lower  rate  than  the  latter,  and 
the  latter  thought  he  was  in  on  the  ground  floor. 
On  another  occasion  Frank  Cooper,  of  Siegel  Cooper 
&  Co.,  discovered  that  he  was  getting  only  25  per  cent, 
rebate,  when  he  thought  he  was  getting  the  same  50 


. 


! 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      161 

per  cent,  as  The  Fair,  and  there  was  a  break  in 

relations. 

If  ever  an  experience  taught  a  man  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  doing  business  on  a  business  basis,  with 
fixed  rates  and  definite  proved  circulation,  these  few 
months  on  The  Inter-Ocean  did  so  for  me.  In  such 
a  cesspool  of  false  pretense  and  shallow  claim  nothing 
large  could  find  root  or  grow.  In  competition  with 
such  real  newspapers  as  The  Chicago  Daily  News  and 
The  Chicago  Tribune,  the  old  Inter-Ocean  was  logically 
and  surely  headed  for  the  scrap-heap. 

In  the  absence  of  fixed  rates  rigidly  maintained  the 
advertiser  is  never  sure  that  he  is  getting  the  lowest 
rate  and  is  ever  seeking  for  something  lower.  It  is 
easier  to  establish  a  fixed  rate  by  sticking  to  it  than 
to  restore  a  sound  basis  where  business  has  been 
demoralized  by  the  lure  of  special  inducements.  I 
know  because  I  have  tried  both  ways.  When  I  took 
hold  of  The  New  York  Globe,  the  first  thing  we  did 
was  to  go  on  The  Chicago  Daily  News  basis  of  fixed 
rates  and  definite  proved  circulation  statements,  and 
I  am  sure  it  has  been  much  more  successful  than  the 
other  way  would  have  been. 


14 


\  < 


XXVIII 

Wiles  of  the  Space-buyer 

A  FAVORITE  dodge  of  the  clever  space-buyer  for  the 
big  stores  is  to  get  a  newspaper  to  quote  a  rate  for 
some  enormous  volume  of  space,  just  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  whether  he  will  fall  for  such  a  play,  and  then 
start  establishing  that  rate  for  a  much  smaller  use. 
I  have  had  it  played  on  me  so  often  that  nowadays  I 
almost  laugh  in  the  face  of  one  who  thinks  that  I 
am  so  soft-headed  as  to  be  caught  in  such  an  obvious 
trap. 

For  example,  only  a  few  months  ago  the  head  of 
one  of  our  large  department  stores  taking,  say,  150,000 
lines  a  year,  pretended  that  he  would  like  to  consider 
the  use  of  as  much  space  as  is  sold  to  our  largest  three 
advertisers — a  minimum  of  400,000  lines  a  year.  In 
the  first  place,  he  didn't  think  I  would  tell  him  the 
rate,  but  I  frankly  did,  coupled  with  the  statement 
that  I  knew  he  could  not  live  up  to  such  a  contract. 
To  this  he  replied,  "Well,  I  think  I  should  get  a  rate 
as  low  as  anybody  else,  for  our  business  means  a 
great  deal  to  the  papers  we  patronize." 

This  is  as  far  as  he  had  ever  meant  to  go,  just  a 
play  to  get  by  at  car-load  rates  for  gross  lots.  I 
did  not  put  it  in  exactly  these  words  to  him,  but  he 
saw  the  point,  or,  rather,  made  up  his  mind  that  it 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING        163 

would  be  useless  for  him  to  continue  in  his  effort  to 

break  rates. 

In  my  younger  days  I  listened  to  the  beautiful 
words  of  encouragement  handed  out  by  the  big  ad- 
vertiser willing  temporarily  to  splurge  if  I  would 
make  an  "inducement"  for  him.  The  word  "in- 
ducement" so  largely  used  by  many  advertisers  and 
buyers  as  a  device  to  justify  murder  is  one  to  be 
avoided  by  the  newspaper  advertising  manager  if  he 
is  to  build  an  enduring  edifice. 

Times  without  end  we  have  all  seen  the  man  who 
would  sign  a  maximum  contract  without  any  in- 
tention to  carry  it  out,  as  a  means  of  getting  a  low 
rate.  The  practice  grew  so  general  that  we  learned 
to  study  the  prospect's  possibilities  and  probabilities 
before  taking  him  on  for  more  than  nominal  business 

at  solid  rates. 

These  practices  induced  some  of  our  strongest  news- 
papers to  scale  their  discounts  for  open  space  and 
make  a  heavy  rebate  at  the  end  of  the  year  on  the 
basis  of  the  money  value  of  advertising  used.  For 
example : 

The  following  discounts  are  allowed  for  advertising  in  any  or 
all  editions  of  The  New  York  World  when  contracted  for: 

For  $  5,000  per  annum 2}4  per  cent. 

"      10,000        "  5 

"      15,000        "  7M       " 

"      20,000        "  10 

"     30,000        "  15 

"    40,000      "  ly'A     " 

"    60,000      "  20 

An  additional  discount  of  10  per  cent,  will  be  made  to  such 
advertisers  each  month  on  local  display  advertising,  unclassified, 


',«««ftS«£ii«M>M3IKi 


4 


\¥ 


il 


164      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

in  the  Morning  and  the  Sunday  editions  of  The  World  when  the 
advertiser  shall  have  used  during  the  month  as  many  lines  of 
advertising  in  such  editions  as  in  any  other  daily  Morning  and 
Sunday  newspaper. 

The  same  allowance  will  be  made,  under  similar  conditions 
m  the  Evening  Edition  of  The  World. 

Local  advertisers  must  sign  agreement  in  advance  to  receive 
space  discount. 

Some  of  the  irresponsible  advertising  agents  were 
ready  to  make  contracts  for  more  space  than  the 
advertisers  expected  to  use,  in  the  hope  that  in  the 
exchange  of  traffic  there  would  be  increased  profit 
to*  them.  If  by  making  a  contract  for  10,000  lines 
they  could  get  a  rate  of,  say,  9  cents  a  line,  while  their 
customers  expected  to  pay  11  cents  for  5,000  lines 
(the  card  rate),  the  agent  could  legitimately  (?) 
pocket  2  cents  per  line  added  profit  if  the  newspaper 
did  not  short-rate  him. 

This  led  to  the  practice  of  short-rating  by  news- 
papers interested  in  the  integrity  of  their  rates.  Un- 
less we  short-rate  we  place  a  premium  on  the  prac- 
tice of  overbuying.  This  no  self-respecting  newspaper 
advertising  manager  can  fail  to  do,  for  he  might  just 
as  well  cut  rates.  Newspaper  publishers  hate  to  short- 
rate  and  agents  and  advertisers  protest  most  loudly 
against  the  practice,  but  there  is  no  middle  course, 
and  the  advertiser  only  pays  what  he  should  have 
done  had  he  correctly  gauged  his  needs  at  the  time 
he  signed  his  contract. 


XXIX 


Silence  More  Deadly  Than  Attack 


One  of  the  weirdest  conceptions  of  journalism  I 
heard  of  in  a  Middle  West  city  in  connection  with  a 
newspaper  under  the  control  of  a  notorious  character, 
who  later  served  a  term  in  prison  for  publishing  ob- 
jectionable advertisements  contrary  to  the  Federal 
law.  This  man  had  a  theory  that  what  he  needed  in 
order  to  maintain  his  newspaper  was  advertising  and 
not  circulation.  Of  course  he  never  got  anywhere 
except  into  trouble.  Those  who  worked  for  him 
said  he  begrudged  the  use  of  every  extra  roll  of 
print  paper. 

He  had  a  convincing  way  with  him  when  he  sent 
a  solicitor  after  copy.  If  there  was  any  flinching  on 
the  part  of  the  prospect  he  was  ever  ready  with  veiled 
threats  of  activities  along  lines  of  publicity  of  the 
undesirable  kind.  One  big  store  honored  his  demands 
for  cash  in  advance  of  the  insertion  of  the  advertising, 
and  no  one  was  ever  impertinent  enough  to  demand 
any  proof  of  circulation. 

Strong-arm  methods  bordering  on  blackmail  have 
been  employed  by  disreputable  characters  in  the  news- 
paper business  and  are  still  indulged  in  in  several 
parts  of  the  country.  Sooner  or  later  such  methods 
bring  their  just  rewards — exposure  and  convictions — 


M 


I 


II 


11 


I 


i66      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

and  are  not  to  be  recommended  as  a  basis  for  adver- 
tising development. 

In  one  Western  city  within  the  last  six  years  I  was 
invited  to  a  luncheon  given  me  by  the  leading  busi- 
ness men  of  the  town,  who  wished  advice  and  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  possibility  of  securing  the  right  man 
to  put  through  a  plan  for  a  decent,  clean  newspaper 
able  to  run  the  owner  of  an  objectionable  existing 
newspaper  out  of  business.  I  was  unable  to  name  a 
man  who  I  thought  would  be  willing  to  undertake  the 
job,  for  nothing  short  of  a  lynching-bee  seemed  prac- 
ticable to  me. 

In  another  Western  city  I  had  a  similar  experience 
when  a  group  of  bankers  and  leading  business  men 
indicated  their  desire  to  finance  a  new  newspaper 
they  could  take  into  their  homes  without  the  danger 
of  exposing  their  children  to  filthy  details  of  crimes 
and  abuse.  They  did  not  even  ask  for  control  of  the 
new  newspaper,  but  stood  ready  to  extend  any  re- 
quired financial  support  as  long  as  the  paper  was 
pledged  to  decency. 

These  cases  indicate  clearly  enough  that  the  rough 
and  crude  methods  of  adventurers  in  the  newspaper 
business  are  not  desirable  from  any  point  of  view. 

A  tradesman  with  a  record  for  sharp  practices  pre- 
sents an  attractive  target  for  attack  when,  upon  being 
approached  for  advertising,  he  rears  up  on  his  hind 
legs  and  curses  all  newspapers.  If  we  will  but  hold 
our  horses  in  the  face  of  such  abuse  and  decline  to 
accept  any  of  his  business  when  he  wants  to  return 
to  our  columns,  he  will  soon  realize  that  he  is  losing 
more  in  the  exchange  of  civilities  than  we  are. 

Giving  a  sorehead  the  ''absent  treatment"  for  a 
few  months  or  for  a  period  of  a  year  has  in  the  end 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      167 

been  found  more  effective  than  anything  yet  devised. 
The  late  Colonel  Nelson,  of  The  Kansas  City  Star, 
did  the  thing  beautifully  in  a  number  of  noteworthy 
cases.  A  theater  objected  to  a  criticism  and  got 
nasty.  Colonel  Nelson  simply  refused  its  adver- 
tising, and  gave  orders  never  to  mention  the  theater 
in  The  Star.  That  ended  the  incident  and  incidentally 
the  theater  after  a  lingering  illness. 

A  group  of  brewers  wanted  some  unusual  facilities 
or  objected  to  something  The  Star  was  working  for, 
and  threatened  to  withdraw  its  advertising  if  the 
paper  did  not  change  its  position.  Colonel  Nelson^s 
answer  was  short  and  to  the  point — ''The  Star  will 
run  no  more  beer  advertising.'*  If  all  newspaper 
publishers  had  the  courage  and  sincerity  of  purpose 
of  Colonel  Nelson  in  such  matters  more  newspapers 
would  be  successful. 

It  was  a  hobby  of  Colonel  Nelson's  that  the  only 
advertising  he  really  wanted  in  The  Star  was  that  of 
local  merchants.  He  figured  that  the  outsider  ad- 
vertising in  his  paper  was  reaching  in  to  take  money 
out  of  Kansas  City.  His  paper,  as  he  put  it,  **was 
made  for  the  people  who  paid  ten  cents  a  week  for 
it,"  and  he  felt  that  he  could  get  all  the  advertising 
earnings  he  wanted  or  needed  from  Kansas  City  stores 
and  enterprises.  Such  a  policy  was  unique  and  the 
outside  general  advertisers  seeking  business  ex- 
pansion in  the  Southwest  always  included  The  Star. 
If  their  advertising  was  reliable  and  unobjectionable 
it  was  accepted,  but  The  Star  never  insulted  the  in- 
telligence of  its  readers  by  opening  its  columns  to  the 
cure-alls  and  fakes. 

In  the  smaller  towns,  where  everybody  knows  every 
one  else's  business,   the  advertising  manager  must 


Mferi 


■J 


168      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

exercise  great  care  to  avoid  permitting  outside  mail- 
order concerns  to  compete  with  local  merchants  if 
he  would  get  best  results.  Likewise  it  is  well  to  draw 
the  line  against  one-night-stand  sales  by  the  ad- 
venturer who  leases  an  unoccupied  store  for  a  week 
or  two  and  seriously  cuts  into  the  trade  of  regular 
customers.  I  have  seen  these  fly-by-nights  use  pages 
and  half -pages  of  fake  offerings,  foolishly  accepted  by 
newspapers,  which  later  on  wondered  at  the  criticism 
they  richly  deserved  from  regular  advertisers. 

By  adopting  a  sound  policy  for  the  protection  of 
legitimate  home  industry  and  making  it  known  you 
will  win  the  cordial  support  of  local  merchants  and 
dealers.  It  pays  in  dollars  and  cents  every  time  to 
be  loyal  to  your  constituency.  The  advertising  man- 
ager who  permits  himself  to  take  a  few  hundred  dol- 
lars' worth  of  irresponsible  business  which  affronts 
his  regular  customers  is  injuring  his  efficiency  as  a 
business-getter. 


XXX 

Weak  Spot  in  the  Armor  of  the  Dominant  Newspaper 

A  RATHER  unusual  opportunity  came  to  me  unex- 
pectedly a  number  of  years  ago  as  a  solicitor  when 
calling  upon  an  advertiser.  It  was  one  of  those 
chances  which,  if  taken  full  advantage  of,  leads  to 
final  escape  from  the  drudgery  of  a  solicitor's  life.  I 
did  my  part  in  completing  the  thing,  but  those  higher 
up  behind  me  for  various  reasons  put  the  skids  under 
it  and  thereby  brought  about  their  own  undoing. 

It  was  in  the  executive  office  of  a  department  store 
in  Chicago  where  I  had  called  to  try  to  interest 
the  concern  in  a  contract  with  my  newspaper.  I 
had  not  got  past  the  usual  formalities  when  this  was 
thrown  at  me:  "You  have  had  New  York  experi- 
ence. What  are  we  going  to  do  about  this?"  hand- 
ing me  a  printed  notice  from  a  competing  newspaper 
{The  Chicago  Daily  News)  that  on  and  after  a  certain 
date  certain  regulations  previously  waived,  amount- 
ing to  25  or  50  per  cent,  in  rates,  would  become 
effective. 

Before  I  had  completed  reading  the  notice  the  mer- 
chant said:  *'We  cannot  get  along  without  The  News. 
It  is  our  bread  and  butter.  It  is  an  outrage  for  them 
to  take  such  an  advantage  of  us."  I  asked  him  to 
show  me  his  contract,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  how 


< 


if 


liiMii 


170     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

he  was  bound,  and  found  that  the  newspaper  was 
within  its  rights.  The  same  provision  had  been  in  all 
contracts  for  many  years,  was  specified  in  all  rate 
cards,  and  the  store  clearly  had  to  pay  the  extra 
amount  whenever  the  newspaper  demanded  it.  The 
Daily  News  then  had  a  rule  providing  for  a  penalty  of 
25  per  cent,  extra  for  cuts  and  25  per  cent,  extra  for 
broken  column  rules.  In  the  case  of  large  local  ad- 
vertisers the  penalty  had  been  temporarily  waived. 

After  seeing  the  exhibits  I  replied:  "You  are  up 
against  it  and  you  merchants  deserve  all  you  are 
getting.  By  building  up  a  huge  monopoly  and  making 
it  impossible  for  another  newspaper  to  get  anywhere 
near  it  you  have  put  yourselves  in  their  hands."  I 
then  imfolded  to  him  one  of  my  pet  schemes  by  which 
merchants  combining  their  volume  business  in  a  tail- 
end  newspaper,  with  provision  against  arbitrary  ad- 
vances in  rates,  could  buy  their  space  more  reason- 
ably and  certainly  more  satisfactorily  than  by  the 
ordinary  method. 

I  showed  him  how,  by  getting  the  four  or  five  other 
big  stores  to  co-operate  in  the  plan,  he  would  enable 
the  newspaper  selected  to  spend  a  few  thousand  dol- 
lars in  advertising  the  fact  that  "it  carried  all  the 
bargain  ads.  of  the  big  stores,"  and  so  secure  increased 
circulation;    how  the  stores,  by  displaying  placards 

announcing  that  "all  our  ads.  appear  in  the /' 

would  assist  in  making  their  advertising  productive, 
and  named  a  scale  of  gradually  advancing  rates  as- 
suring him  against  any  arbitrary  change. 

Before  I  concluded  my  story  he  said,  "I  am  sold 
and  will  help  you  put  the  plan  through."  This  was 
too  good  to  be  true  to  me — a  solicitor  who  had  not 
even  consulted  my  superiors  regarding  the  scheme. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      171 

I  told  him  I  would  have  to  formulate  an  agreement 
and  would  call  again  next  day,  when  he  promised  to 
go  with  me  to  call  on  the  other  merchants. 

On  my  return  to  the  office  my  immediate  superior, 
the  advertising  manager,  was  out,  so,  after  nearly  an 
hour's  wait,  I  got  in  to  the  business  manager.  I  now 
think  he  thought  I  was  crazy  or  drunk  as  I  described 
my  project.  Seeing  his  attitude  of  doubt,  I  urged  him 
to  call  up  Mr.  Davis,  of  A.  M.  Rothschild  &  Co.,  to 
confirm  his  willingness  to  go  ahead  with  such  an  ar- 
rangement. He  did  this  and,  all  smiles,  asked  me 
to  compose  the  agreement. 

It  was  a  simple  affair,  that  agreement — a  rate  of 
8  cents  per  line  for  the  first  six  months,  8>^  cents  for 
the  second  six  months,  9  cents  for  a  year,  10  cents  for 
another  year,  and  so  on  up  to  15  at  the  end  of  eight 
years.  It  provided  for  full  copy  and  the  mutual 
services  briefly  touched  upon  above. 

Inasmuch  as  I  was  calling  on  but  one  of  the  big 
stores,  I  signed  up  the  first  merchant  while  other 
solicitors  tied  up  three  or  four  others,  and  everything 
started  in  good  shape.  The  stores  gave  us  page  copy, 
and  only  two  to  four  columns  to  The  Daily  News. 
But  our  business  manager  did  not  carry  out  the  plan 
of  outside  advertising  or  provide  the  placards  for  the 
stores.  Buyers  in  the  stores  commenced  to  howl  be- 
cause their  departments  were  not  represented  in  the 
space  in  the  other  newspaper.  Yet  the  stores  played 
the  game  like  men,  and  would  have  kept  it  up  had  it 
not  been  for  the  weak-heartedness  and  bad  faith  of 
the  newspaper  in  carrying  out  its  end  of  the  deal. 

In  the  first  place,  my  arrangement  with  the  news- 
paper was  on  a  salary  and  commission  basis.  When  I 
put  in  a  claim  for  commissions  on  the  big  growth  I 


; 


i 


1 


172     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

had  produced  I  was  told  that  **of  course  your  arrange- 
ment had  nothing  to  do  with  State  Street  business," 
so  I  quit  on  the  spot  and  put  my  feet  under  a  desk 
in  a  rival  shop.  Meanwhile  the  business  manager, 
out  for  an  advance  in  his  own  salary  and  bent  on 
keeping  down  expenses,  did  not  make  any  of  those 
moves  that  were  so  necessary  to  keep  things  running 
smoothly. 

I  can  only  add,  in  justification  of  the  soundness  of 
my  plan,  that  on  The  Globe  I  have  tried  the  thing  out, 
with  improvements,  with  great  success,  and  found  it 
sound  and  effective.  Such  a  relation  as  one  can 
establish  by  going  frankly  to  his  largest  customers  and 
putting  business  on  a  basis  of  complete  understanding 
is  most  satisfactory. 


i 


jn 


XXXI 

Consideration  of  Sales  Methods 

Regarding  the  salesmanship  of  advertising  in- 
volved in  the  day's  work  by  the  solicitor,  it  may  be 
truthfully  stated  that  probably  no  two  men  pursue 
exactly  the  same  technique.  In  making  this  state- 
ment I,  of  course,  refer  to  those  who  by  experience 
or  intuition  have  built  up  a  scheme  which  enables 
them  to  sell  advertising  in  paying  volume.  Without 
some  definite  plan  easily  and  quickly  adjustable  to 
varying  conditions  in  the  contact  with  the  customer 
the  solicitor  is  at  a  disadvantage. 

I  am  a  strong  believer  in  the  theory  that  the  sales- 
man should  never  approach  a  prospect  until  he  is 
confident  that  he  has  something  definite  with  which 
to  secure  his  interested  attention  and  not  merely  glit- 
tering generalities;  for  in  my  experience,  at  least, 
I  have  always  found  that  the  man  who  was  most 
successful  had  initiative  and  a  reserve  fund  of  data 
and  information  which  got  attention  and  brought 
the  business.  In  making  this  statement  I  have  in 
mind  the  successful  efforts  of  the  most  efficient 
business  producers  who  have  ever  gone  out  for 
contracts. 

I  would  rather  have  a  solicitor  make  two  effective 
calls  a  day  than  have  him  stop  in  thirty  shops  merely 


^i 


ill' 


174      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

chasing  copy  or  to  talk  about  the  weather  or  politics. 
This  is  why  the  solicitor  of  sound  commercial  instinct 
and  experience,  has  it  all  over  the  man  of  ordinary 
newspaper-office  training. 

One  of  the  very  best  solicitors  in  men's  retail  cloth- 
ing advertising  I  ever  knew  was  one  who  had  been 
advertising  manager  of  two  stores  in  that  line  in  an- 
other city.  His  business  had  brought  him  in  touch 
with  traveling  salesmen  from  other  cities  until  he 
had  a  first-name  acquaintance  with  many  of  them. 
As  luck  would  have  it,  he  entered  upon  the  selling 
of  advertising  for  a  newspaper  in  New  York,  special- 
ized on  retail-clothing  advertising,  and  made  a  glorious 
success  of  it.  He  knew  the  line  inside  out,  so  to  speak, 
could  talk  with  authority,  and  in  nearly  every  case 
was  able  to  show  the  prospect  how  to  increase  his 
trade  and  advertising  efficiency  without  giving  offense 
or  betraying  any  confidences. 

Likewise  in  the  women's  clothing-shop  advertising, 
extending  right  up  to  the  big  department  stores,  the 
cleverest  solicitor  I  have  ever  met  was  one  who  knew 
the  business  and  many  of  the  underlying  principles 
upon  which  success  in  it  depends.  He  not  only  could 
talk  style  with  any  of  the  experts,  but  could  tell  them 
about  the  ideas  of  those  who  created  the  styles  in 
Paris.  He  understood  salesmanship  and  selling  plans 
far  beyond  the  comprehension  of  mere  tradesmen, 
and  was  a  power  for  business  promotion  as  long  as  he 
stuck  to  the  job. 

In  my  own  experience  I  have  found  that  very  few 
business  men  whom  I  have  undertaken  to  interest 
in  a  definite  selling  plan  get  away  without  giving 
me  a  chance  to  establish  an  enduring  business  rela- 
tion.    I  purposely  maintain  personal  contact  with 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      17S 

many  of  our  customers,  large  and  small,  just  to  keep 
my  hand  in  and  to  be  able  to  show  our  solicitors  that  I 
can  do  what  we  ask  them  to  put  through.  Of  course, 
as  publisher  of  a  New  York  newspaper,  I  get  atten- 
tion much  more  easily  than  they  do,  but  no  man 
separates  himself  from  his  dollars  unless  he  is  made 
to  see  how  to  secure  a  profit  by  so  doing. 

Therein  lies  the  art  of  selling  advertising,  which  is 
printed  salesmanship.  If  you  sell  advertising  you  are 
selling  salesmanship,  pure  and  simple.  If  you  cannot 
sell  advertising  which  you  know  will  produce  results 
if  properly  used,  you  are  no  solicitor.  In  order  to 
sell  such  advertising,  you  must  know  what  it  will  do 
and  be  able  to  help  the  man  who  buys  it  to  get  results 
from  the  money  he  invests  in  response  to  your 
arguments. 

The  only  men  in  a  community  on  whom  I  would 
not  waste  time  are  doctors  and  lawyers,  who  for  what 
they  call  ethical  reasons  would  rather  get  their  ad- 
vertising for  nothing.  If  our  newspapers  always  re- 
ported the  names  of  doctors  who  attended  patients 
who  died  as  they  report  the  names  of  doctors  attend- 
ing well-known  invalids,  so  that  the  public  would 
be  informed  concerning  the  doctors  who  fail  as  well 
as  those  who  succeed,  our  ethical  friends  would  prob- 
ably object  to  any  mention  of  a  doctor's  name  in 
print  except  when  he  himself  was  dead.  Likewise 
with  the  lawyers.  They  object  to  advertising,  but 
always  seek  publicity  of  the  "free"  variety. 

In  the  approach  to  the  customer  the  solicitor  should 
hit  upon  worth-while  topics  regarding  his  business, 
or  local  public  movements  in  which  he  is  interested. 
They  are  all  alike  and  ever  on  the  lookout  for  new 
thoughts   and    ideas.     Study   of   a   man's   personal 


t 


Mi 


176     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

peculiarities  and  hobbies  may  come  later  to  secure 
material  seldom  needed  for  the  fii-st  call. 

Good    salesmen    nowadays    don't    jump    in    with 

"Mr.  ,  can't  we  print  your  advertising  in  The 

Gazette f  We  sell  10,000  a  day  and  can  produce  more 
profitable  results  for  you  than  The  News.''  Not  by 
a  mile ;  that  is  left  for  the  amateurs  and  copy-chasers. 

He  does  it  more  Hke  this:    **Mr.  ,  I  would  like 

to  have  just  a  few  minutes  of  your  time  to  consider 
a  plan  of  advertising  used  by  Cammeyer  in  New 
York,  The  Hub  in  Chicago,  etc.,  which,  I  am  told, 
is  producing  most  surprising  results.     We  are  anxious 

for  some  store  in  to  try  out  the  plan,  and 

have  gone  to  the  trouble  of  studying  it  carefully  in 
all  its  angles  for  the  benefit  of  some  local  dealer  on 
the  lookout  for  the  latest  selling  methods.  The 
Gazette  sells  something  plus  when  it  sells  advertising; 
it  sells  results. ' '  The  chances  are  that  such  an  opening 
will  produce  a  hearing. 

Any  wide-awake  soHcitor  of  sound  experience,  by 
following  the  trade  papers,  studying  the  various  books 
on  advertising,  can  present  ideas  and  suggestions  of 
inestimable  value  to  the  tradesman  too  close  to  his 
shop  to  keep  familiar  with  what  is  going  on  in  his 
line  in  other  cities.  In  many  soHcitations  the  sub- 
ject of  advertising  in  your  own  newspaper  may  not 
come  up  until  well  along  in  the  conversation  and  more 
often  than  not  at  the  suggestion  of  the  prospect. 

The  biggest  and  most  important  advertising  con- 
tract I  ever  landed  was  produced  by  avoiding  direct 
selling  argument.  I  kept  the  prospect  rising  for  the 
fly,  but  every  time  I  saw  him  coming  I  jerked  the  hook 
far  out  of  the  water  before  he  got  to  it.  It  would 
have  been  injurious  to  what  I  had  in  mind  to  let  him 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      177 

get  a  weak  hold  before  he  got  hungry  enough  to  take 
a  firm  hold. 

The  result  was  that  when  he  did  make  up  his  mind 
to  do  business  he  apparently  at  least  wanted  the 
space  more  than  I  wanted  to  sell  it  to  him.  Such  a 
situation  is  difficult  to  produce,  but  the  farther  we 
get  away  from  the  cold-blooded  bludgeon  tactics  of 
the  mere  peddler  of  space  the  more  satisfactory  re- 
sults we  can  secure  for  our  customers  and  for  our 
newspapers. 

The  solicitor  who  has  conscientiously  served  the 
customer  has  built  up  an  asset  for  the  newspaper 
worth  many  times  the  amount  he  pays  every  year 
for  his  advertising.  So  long  as  he  continues  to  get 
results  nothing  will  keep  him  out  of  the  newspaper 
except  its  discontinuance.  They  say  that  cats  have 
nine  lives,  but  I  know  newspapers  which  are  practical- 
ly unkillable,  and  have  survived  twenty  and  thirty 
years  beyond  their  periods  of  usefulness. 


XXXII 

Meeting  Unreasonable  Requests 

One  of  the  most  discouraging  features  of  advertising 
solicitation  and  advertising  management  is  the  matter 
of  unreasonable  requests  and  complaints  of  those  who 
seek  through  such  methods  to  get  minor  advantages 
Dver  those  who  do  not  do  so. 

If  I  had  my  life  to  live  over  again  ifi  the  newspaper 
business  the  first  rule  I  would  adopt  would  be  that  of 
The  Chicago  Daily  News,  to  sell  or  give  position  to 
no  one  under  any  circumstances,  and  stick  to  it  as 
The  News  has  done.  In  the  experience  of  those  who 
have  studied  the  subject  far  enough  to  know,  any 
definite  specified  position  sold  involves  loss  to  the 
newspaper  running  a  heavy  volume  of  business.  It 
frequently  causes  an  increased  number  of  pages, 
which  involves  heavier  expense  than  can  be  made 
good  by  many  an  extra  cent  per  line  in  rates. 

Whenever  a  newspaper  specifies  any  special  posi- 
tions for  sale  there  are  advertisers  and  agents  with 
enough  gall  to  expect  to  get  them  **on  request,'* 
which  is  another  form  of  discount  from  rates  to  those 
securing  such  concession. 

Exactly  why  a  man  thinks  himself  privileged  to 
demand,  say,  page  3  every  day  he  runs  an  ad,  regard- 
less of  fairness  to  others  who  would  like  the  same 
treatment,  is  beyond  me,  and  yet  there  are  newspapers 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      179 

which  give  and  defend  the  granting  of  such  unusual 
favors.  I  have  had  many  an  interesting  argument 
with  advertisers  regarding  such  matters,  and  found 
that  it  paid  in  the  long  run  to  show  them  we  would 
not  sell  them  our  show-windows  except  at  prohibitive 
prices. 

According  to  my  notion,  a  newspaper  is  made  by 
its  first,  second,  and  third  pages,  with  protection 
against  serious  encroachment  of  business  on  the  edi- 
torial, sporting,  and  last  page.  I  am  perfectly  willing 
to  grant  certain  regular  daily  users  of  space  certain 
definite  pages  as  much  for  their  increased  value  to 
them  as  for  our  own  convenience.  For  example,  one 
firm  is  assured  page  5  or  7 ;  another,  the  next  right- 
hand  page;  another,  the  next  right;  and  another,  op- 
posite editorial.  Other  business,  unless  specifically 
paid  for,  is  rotated  back  of  page  4  and  as  well  forward 
as  we  can  arrange,  with  none  but  smaller  ads.  on 
pages  2  or  3. 

It  is  much  easier  to  establish  a  rule  of  no  special 
or  specified  position  to  any  one  under  any  circum- 
stances than  to  try  to  maintain  a  standard  of  no 
position  without  extra  rate.  The  buyers  of  space 
are  so  cunning  in  their  devices  to  secure  just  the  Httle 
added  bit  that  the  best  of  us  are  inclined  occasionally 
to  take  down  the  bars  for  a  friend  or  for  some  business 
which  we  have  been  seeking  for  years,  and  which  we 
can  get  if  we  merely  promise,  as  a  side  talk  with  the 
contract,  that  a  ''request"  for  position  will  get  it 
without  extra  compensation.  This  trifling  difference 
given  to  one  agent  and  not  to  another  has  occasionally 
been  instrumental  in  getting  an  account  away  from 
the  one  quoting  the  higher  rate.  Thus  the  newspapers 
often  help  the  price-cutter  through  their  own  weakness. 


i8o     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

In  our  larger  cities,  where  we  have  photo-engraving 
plants  handy,  advertisers  have  often  been  so  spoiled 
that  they  demand  that  we  make  all  their  cuts  and 
illustrations  for  them,  and  set  up  two  or  three  times 
as  much  copy  as  they  use,  for  them  to  edit  and  select 
from  in  laying  out  their  ads.  They  foolishly  tliink 
that  we  do  this  for  nothing,  but  in  the  long  nm,  if 
they  made  careful  analyses  of  increasing  costs,  they 
would  find  that  they  finally  pay  for  all  service  ren- 
dered and  a  slight  profit  beyond.  The  advertiser 
who  is  most  troublesome  to  a  composing-room  usu- 
ally gets  the  worst  service  and  has  no  one  to  blame 
but  himself. 

I  know  of  one  advertiser  in  another  city  who  grew 
€0  difficult  to  handle  that  all  the  newspapers  refused 
to  set  his  copy,  subject  to  corrections  other  than 
typographical  errors.  He  then  had  a  job  office  at- 
tempt the  job  for  him,  but  finally  came  back  and 
begged  for  the  opportunity  of  having  the  newspapers 
do  the  work  for  him,  with  penalties  for  over-set  and 
any  unreasonable  changes. 

Then  again  we  all  sooner  or  later  discover  the  alleged 
advertising  manager  and  so-called  advertising  expert 
who  frequently  desires  to  change  the  sort  of  type  the 
advertising  of  the  store  he  writes  for  is  usually  set 
in.  Some  few  of  these  experts  work  in  league  with 
the  type-founders,  judged  by  their  ability  to  select 
faces  not  found  in  any  of  our  newspaper  offices.  We 
have  long  since  declined  to  use  any  faces  not  obtain- 
able in  mats  for  our  typesetting  machines.  The  day 
of  hand  composition  is  past. 

One  of  the  meanest  men  we  meet  is  the  fellow  who 
seeks  to  make  corrections  in  his  ad.  between  editions 
or  after  he  has  seen  the  ads.  of  others,  or  wishes  to 


, 


( 


iFl  i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      i8i 

kill  an  ad.  without  paying  for  it  after  it  has  been 
run  in  one  or  more  editions.  The  first  fellow  is  difficult 
to  cope  with,  for  we  have  no  specific  proof  and  want 
to  give  him  every  opportunity  to  make  good.  For  the 
second  one  the  only  way  out  is  to  charge  for  the  full 
run  as  an  eventual  cure  for  the  nervous  condition 
which  he  has  permitted  to  grow  up  in  his  business 
system.  The  cost  of  the  composition  and  corrections, 
and  of  the  white  paper  for  the  day's  paper  including 
the  ad.,  cannot  be  adjusted  in  an  instant  to  suit  any- 
body. The  pro-rating  of  the  circulation  given  works 
a  gross  injustice  to  the  newspaper. 

All  of  us  at  some  stage  in  our  experience  have  been 
up  against  the  perpetually  late  customer  who  always 
gets  his  copy  in  at  the  last  moment  and  wishes  us 
to  ** railroad"  his  ad.  without  corrections  so  as  not 
to  miss  an  edition.  We  don't  do  business  that  way 
and  have  not  for  years,  because  we  found  in  one  or 
two  cases  a  tendency  to  hold  us  responsible  for  errors. 
Nowadays  we  will  not  run  an  ad.  until  it  has  been 
finally  approved  or  ordered  in  exact  accordance  with 
copy  with  time  for  us  to  revise  the  proofs. 

It  is  needless  to  go  on  describing  the  off-side  play 
of  advertisers  seeking  to  exact  the  last  drop  of  blood 
our  pleasant  dispositions  will  give  up  without  break- 
ing relations.  But  I  cannot  quit  the  topic  without 
again  pointing  out  the  error  of  permitting  any  ad- 
vertiser who  has  made  a  contract  earning  a  discount 
for  a  certain  volume  of  space  and  failed  to  use  it, 
to  get  away  without  paying  a  short-rate  penalty. 
If  we  permit  this  we  put  a  premium  on  wilful  lying 
and  misrepresentation.  The  man  with  the  greatest 
nerve  can  get  the  lowest  rate  regardless  of  use,  unless 
we  compel  every  one  to  pay  for  exactly  what  he  takes. 


t 


\\m 


XXXIII 

Local  Advertising  Experience 

In  a  brief  consideration  of  a  few  notable  successful 
newspaper  campaigns  I  shall  not  attempt  to  do  more 
than  view  the  high  spots,  leaving  it  for  the  student 
of  advertising  to  go  to  the  sources  for  further  data. 
Observation  of  local  advertising  practices  in  many 
cities  shows  that  all  follow  the  same  fundamental 
laws. 

Of  all  the  large  stores  in  the  country,  Marshall 
Field  &  Co.,  of  Chicago,  and  B.  Altman  &  Co.,  in  New 
York,  have  best  succeeded,  by  the  practice  of  sound 
merchandizing  and  conservative  representations  in 
their  advertising,  in  getting  fullest  returns  per  dollar 
spent  in  advertising. 

A  simple  announcement  by  either  of  these  two 
firms  will  get  a  larger  response  from  the  most  desir- 
able class  of  trade  in  America's  two  largest  cities  than 
a  full-page  bargain  announcement  by  other  stores. 
When  Marshall  Field  or  B.  Altman  announces  a  sale, 
every  one  knows  it  is  a  real  sale. 

A  reputation  for  absolutely  clean  trading,  there- 
fore, is  a  large  part  of  advertising  efficiency,  and  those 
who  make  their  advertising  a  medley  of  bargain  of- 
ferings, a  large  part  of  which  are  mere  pretense,  to 
draw  the  crowd,  are  compelled  to  spend  increasing 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      183 

sums  and  to  invent  all  sorts  of  novel  devices  to  pull 
the  people  out. 

I  say  this  without  purpose  of  casting  any  reflection 
upon  the  other  reputable  merchants  doing  an  immense 
volume  of  business  in  New  York  and  Chicago  by 
means  of  enormous  expenditures  for  printers'  ink, 
perhaps  wasting  money  by  losing  opportunities  for 
building  up  the  soundest  appreciation  of  public 
confidence. 

Than  John  Wanamaker,  with  his  huge  stores  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  there  is  no  more  effective 
advertiser  in  the  United  States.  The  Wanamaker 
style  of  advertising  is  as  individualistic  as  the  whole 
atmosphere  of  his  stores.  The  daily  signed  editorial 
and  the  intimate  manner  of  telling  the  women  the 
news  of  the  store  and  merchandise  make  his  advertis- 
ing stand  in  a  class  by  itself. 

Wanamaker  is  one  of  the  cleverest  buyers  of  adver- 
tising space  in  the  world.  He  fully  realizes  the 
circulation  and  attraction  value  of  his  store  news  to 
the  newspapers  of  the  two  cities  he  trades  in.  A  unit 
of  nearly  500,000  lines  of  space  per  year,  having  a 
powerful  influence  upon  competitive  business,  has 
great  attractions  for  the  newspaper  seeking  volume 
of  advertising. 

For  many  years  Wanamaker  bought  space  in  the 
better-grade  New  York  newspapers  for  less  money 
than  his  competitors,  because  he  bought  in  larger 
blocks,  while  they  sought  results  from  the  mass  cir- 
culation of  the  yellow  press  and  got  a  much  lower 
return  per  dollar  invested.  Most  of  the  stores  which 
continued  the  use  of  the  lower-grade  papers  have  gone 
out  of  business,  while  those  who  were  smart  enough 
to  read  the  signs  rightly  used  their  heavy  advertising 


t  i 


li 


184      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

where  it  would  be  read  by  people  with  money  to 
spend. 

In  line  with  the  basic  principles  involved  in  the 
practices  of  Marshall  Field  and  B.  Altman,  the  policy 
of  Rogers,  Peet  &  Co.,  dealing  in  men's  clothing,  in- 
dicates that  huge  bombastic  copy  is  not  necessary  to 
sell  even  clothing.  Rogers,  Peet  &  Co.  seldom  use 
over  120  lines  single  column,  and  yet  have  grown 
from  a  very  small  store  to  an  enormous  trade  all 
over  the  country,  with  several  stores  in  New  York. 

The  success  of  such  enterprises  proves  that  it  pays 
in  dollars  and  cents  to  be  accurate  and  reliable  in 
representations  in  advertising.  Such  methods,  prob- 
ably a  bit  slower  in  developing  big  business,  build 
along  the  institutional  basis  an  edifice  which  ulti- 
mately can  do  business  at  a  lower  operating  cost  than 
where  forced  draft  is  compulsory  to  keep  going. 

R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  occupy  a  unique 
position  among  all  the  big  stores  of  the  larger  cities 
in  selling  strictly  for  cash,  without  the  overhead  ex- 
pense involved  in  credits  and  charge  accounts.  Their 
selling  argument  woven  around  this  point  has  proved 
a  magnet  to  attract  trade,  and  their  business  has 
grown  in  wonderfully  steady  volume. 

Now  conducted  by  the  three  sons  of  Isadore  Straus, 
who  lost  his  life  on  the  ill-fated  Titanic  in  191 2,  Jesse, 
Percy,  and  Herbert,  whose  chief  purpose  in  life  is  to 
leave  the  immense  institution  as  a  monument  to  their 
father  in  better  shape  than  when  they  undertook  its 
management,  its  future  growth  is  watched  with  great 
interest. 

So  obviously  sound  is  the  argument  that  a  store 
which  sells  for  cash  only  and  buys  for  cash  only, 
after  taking  every  possible  discount,  can  sell  cheaper 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     185 

than  one  extending  credit  through  charge  accounts, 
that  the  problem  of  doubling  their  present  volume 
of  trade  is  more  largely  one  of  accommodating  the 
seasonal  traffic  than  anything  else. 

Like  Marshall  Field  in  Chicago  and  B.  Altman  in 
New  York,  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.  long  since  discovered 
that  the  way  to  increased  response  to  advertising 
and  to  larger  traffic  was  in  making  their  sales  real 
sales  and  a  service  to  the  customer.  The  public  is 
not  slow  in  discovering  where  greatest  values  can  be 
secured. 

Involved  in  the  Macy  principle  of  cash  only  is  a 
problem  they  have  partially  solved  through  their 
deposit-account  department,  which,  by  charging  pur- 
chases against  deposits  drawing  interest,  measurably 
provides  the  convenience  of  charge  accounts.  Where 
a  concern  sells  for  cash  only  there  is  no  charge-account 
relation  which  tends  to  bring  the  customer  back  to 
the  store. 

As  proof  that  service  to  the  customer  in  the  way 
of  values  is  a  stronger  magnet  than  the  charge  ac- 
count, nothing  further  need  be  urged  than  the  mar- 
velous growth  in  the  annual  turn-over  of  the  Macy 
store.  Likewise  it  disproves  the  theory  that  our 
women  folks  buy  more  than  they  need  through  the 
convenience  of  charge  accounts. 

Neither  Marshall  Field  nor  Wanamaker  uses  Sun- 
day newspapers  in  their  advertising  campaigns,  find- 
ing that  small  space  in  the  Monday  morning  news- 
papers and  the  bulk  of  his  other  advertising  in  the 
evening  newspapers  produce  results  most  econom- 
ically. It  has  been  said  that  these  two  stores  spend 
less  than  i  per  cent,  of  their  turnover  for  advertising, 
as  against  2,  3,  and  4  per  cent,  by  competitors. 


i86     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Sunday  advertising,  where  full  pages  and  double 
trucks  fight  for  reader  attention  in  competition  with 
the  gymnastic  stunts  of  Sunday  editors,  piling  up 
scores  of  pages  until  the  reader  is  reduced  to  the 
state  where  he  seeks  only  titbits  for  reading  among  the 
mass,  have  had  their  day.  They  represent  waste  to 
the  advertiser. 

The  longer  I  live  the  more  I  incline  to  the  idea  that 
we  have  grown  profligate  in  the  use  of  advertising 
and  have  sold  it  too  cheaply  and  thereby  made  its 
use  too  easy.  It  would  be  much  sounder  business 
for  the  stores  to  use  smaller  space  at  higher  rates. 
Their  advertising  would  not  cost  so  much  and  there 
would  be  a  reasonable  margin  for  profit  in  the  news- 
paper business. 

As  described  in  another  chapter,  the  advertising  of 
Heam  &  Co.,  in  New  York,  two  columns  four 
days  a  week  and  three  full  columns  on  Wednesday, 
received  more  votes  in  30,000  votes  cast  as  indicating 
reader  preference  than  the  advertising  of  any  other 
New  York  store  except  Wanamaker's  and  Macy's. 

If  a  big  store  can  keep  scoring  new  high-water 
marks  in  traffic  when  located  at  a  point  far  removed 
from  the  big  shopping  districts  by  the  use  of  two 
columns  a  day,  as  Heam  does,  it  seems  to  me  that 
those  insisting  on  burning  up  print  paper  by  their 
use  of  larger  copy  are  probably  wasting  money. 

It  would  seem  that,  notwithstanding  enormous 
trade  established  by  many  big  stores  in  our  various 
cities,  newspaper  advertising  provides  the  way  for 
the  successful  building  up  of  new  stores  and  new 
shopping  centers.  In  our  American  cities  the  older 
stores  do  not  seem  to  be  able  to  grow  fast  enough  and 
large  enough  to  care  for  the  increasing  population. 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      187 

There  seems  to  be  a  limit  to  the  scope  of  the  big 
emporium  beyond  which  it  cannot  go.  I  sometimes 
think  this  limit  is  reached  at  the  point  when  people 
cannot  shop  with  comfort  on  the  street-level  floor, 
and  where  elevators  grow  uncomfortably  crowded. 
The  only  way  for  growth  beyond  the  full  block  or 
square  is  by  bridges  underground  and  across  the 
street,  as  in  Wanamaker's  in  New  York. 

To  spread  out  beyond  the  four  streets  of  a  block 
often  means  prohibitive  investment  in  real  estate, 
while  to  go  on  up  beyond  five  or  six  stories  means 
uncomfortable  jamming  of  elevators  and  unbearable 
crowding  on  the  first  floor  during  the  rush  seasons. 

As  a  well-known  department-store  man  recently 
told  me,  the  department  store  has  not  yet  been  proved. 
He  admitted  the  growing  success  of  a  few  in  many 
cities,  but  claimed  that  increasing  overhead  and  ser- 
vice charges  were  making  them  too  expensive  to 
be  real  money-makers. 

This  man  thought  that  the  smaller  community 
stores  could  sell  cheaper  and  give  much  more  satis- 
factory service  than  the  huge  emporium.  In  the  small 
store  the  proprietor  can  keep  in  touch  with  the  cus- 
tomer, while  in  the  big  store  the  point  of  contact  be- 
tween store  and  customer  is  through  "Six-dollar 
Annie,"  and  very  impersonal  at  best. 

A  wonderful  change  has  come  over  retail  adver- 
tising in  New  York  and  other  cities  during  the  last 
ten  years.  The  volume  of  retail  dry-goods  advertising 
in  New  York  has  shrunk  over  1,000,000  lines  for  our 
leading  newspapers,  while  smaller  store  and  specialty- 
shop  advertising  has  developed  more  than  1,500,000 
lines  per  year  for  the  same  newspapers. 

In  other  words,  owing  to  the  failure  and  closing  up 


I 


1 88      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

of  such  stores  as  O'Neill's,  Adams's,  Ehrich's,  Green- 
hut,  Simpson-Crawford,  and  The  14th  Street  Store, 
over  1,000,000  lines  per  year  of  advertising  have  been 
lost  by  each  newspaper  carrying  volume  business 
from  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  high-grade  specialty  shops 
such  as  Oppenheim  CoUins  &  Co.,  Franklin  Simon  & 
Co.,  Bonwit  Teller  &  Co.,  Stewart  &  Co.,  Worth, 
where  better  goods  and  better  service  have  been 
created,  have  stepped  into  the  shoes  of  the  less  worthy 
and  filled  the  newspaper  columns  with  more  in- 
teresting advertising  than  the  bald  bargain  ads.  of 
those  who  dropped  out  largely  through  bad  business 
methods. 

A  local  New  York  account  of  recent  growth  which 
has  interested  me  more  than  almost  anything  else 
that  has  appeared  in  recent  papers  is  that  of  Worth 
on  Thirty-fourth  Street  just  east  of  Sixth  Avenue. 
Here  is  an  advertiser  who  has  had  the  courage  to 
practise  what  others  have  preached— always  bought 
enough  white  space  around  his  ad.  to  make  it  stick 
out,  regardless  of  the  position  on  a  page. 

His  advertising  agent,  Sigmund  Kahn,  who  has 
watched  the  account  with  the  eye  and  care  of  a  good 
mother,  deserves  a  place  in  the  Hall  of  Fame  for  the 
successful  development  of  a  very  prosperous  busi- 
ness from  a  small  beginning.  For  upward  of  a 
year  Worth  advertised  in  no  other  newspaper  than 
The  Globe,  so  we  can  justly  claim  that  we  put  him 
on  his  feet. 

Worth  does  not  use  comparative  prices  and  I  have 
never  heard  anything  but  praise  for  his  merchandizing 
methods.  Other  stores  have  now  followed  the  style 
of  Worth's  advertising,  but  this  store  has  continued  to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      189 

grow  and  is  destined  in  time  to  become  one  of  the  large 
specialty  shops  of  New  York,  if  I  am  not  mistaken. 

Another  really  notable  line  of  retail  advertising 
which  has  won  national  recognition  is  that  of  Mark 
Cross  &  Co.  under  the  inspiration  of  Patrick  Francis 
Murphy.  The  ads.  generally  run  one  full  column 
once  a  week,  with  a  full-page  ad.  in  advance  of  Christ- 
mas. The  style  of  these  ads.  are  distinctive  and  well 
known  to  all. 

That  the  Mark  Cross  advertising  is  good  adver- 
tising and  effective  is  proved  by  results  and  the 
growth  of  the  business,  and  by  the  effect  it  has  had 
in  establishing  agencies  all  over  the  country  for  the 
house.  The  ads.  in  the  New  York  newspapers 
were  seen  by  out-of-town  concerns,  who  applied  for 
agencies  and  then  for  mats  of  the  advertising. 

A  feature  of  the  Cross  advertising  has  been  that 
it  has  not  been  "English,"  as  it  might  easily  have 
been,  but  distinctly  "American,"  intensely  human, 
and  has  created  a  desire  to  buy  high  quaHty  of  leather 
goods  at  fair  prices.  No  better  proof  of  the  wonderful 
pulling  power  of  rational  newspaper  advertising  could 
be  given  than  the  success  of  Patrick  F.  Murphy's 
work  for  Mark  Cross. 

As  Robert  S.  Tinsman,  of  the  Federal  Advertising 
Agency,  once  put  it  in  a  statement  in  Printers'  Inky 
"Good  advertising,  whether  personal  or  written,  must 
contain  an  element  of  repression — a  certain  indefinable 
reserve  that  will  leave  the  customer  curious  to  find 
out  what  you  will  say  the  next  time,  and  that  means 
*  welcome.'" 

Now  for  the  aim.  Every  man  must  have  it — every  advertise- 
ment must  have  it— every  campaign  must  have  it.  One  of  my 
customers  in  the  silk  trade  is  such  an  example.    In  a  recent  ad- 


I 


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190     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

vertisement  to  the  merchants,  he  stated,  *'We  give  you  what 
they  want,  when  they  want  it,  and  we  know  in  advance  they  will 
want  it,"  or  words  to  that  effect. 

The  aim  of  his  business  is  to  anticipate  fashion  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  his  line  will  always  lead  in  every  store  that  it  enters. 
And  because  he  never  loses  the  sight  of  this  aim  he  accomplishes 
results  far  above  the  ordinary.  Every  business  you  know  per- 
mits such  an  analysis.  Every  advertisement  you  read  should  sug- 
gest it  or  it  is  faulty.  The  single  aim,  the  single  purpose,  the  grand 
goal,  is  what  makes  every  contributing  circumstance  insure 
achievement. 

In  a  recent  address  before  the  advertising  club  of  Cleveland 
I  tried  to  draw  the  distinction  between  aimed  and  aimless  ad- 
vertising. I  called  the  one  a  campaign  of  character,  recalling  that 
Emerson  said  "character  is  centrality."  Consequently,  every  part 
of  a  character  campaign  recognizes  and  observes  the  center  of  its 
circle;  the  one  big  fact— the  all-dominant  reason  why  the  article 
advertised  is  superior. 

That  brings  us  up  to  merchandizing  advertising— the  ability 
of  an  advertising  campaign  to  accurately  reflect  the  merchandizing 
element.  This  merchandizing  idea  as  applied  to  advertising  is  a 
much-abused  term,  these  days.  It  goes  a  lot  deeper  than  the 
assumption  that  advertising  is  merely  a  salesman.  A  salesman 
is  a  mighty  important  ''cog"  in  a  big  wheel;  so  is  an  advertise- 
ment, but  back  of  the  cog  and  back  of  the  wheel  must  be  the 
motor,  and  that  motor  is  the  merchandizing  instinct,  faculty 
ability  which  digs  down  to  the  fundamental  roots  of  business 
and  makes  the  wheel  go  round  and  the  cogs  catch,  and  pays  the 
dividends. 

Many  a  campaign  has  been  doomed  to  failure  because  some 
advertising  man,  without  real  merchandise  resource,  permitted, 
not  to  say  advised,  the  customer  to  do  the  wrong  thing.  Simi- 
larly, many  a  great  campaign  has  leaped  to  success  because  the 
merchandizing  idea  back  of  it  was  fundamentally  right. 

There  is  Printz-Biederman,  who  jumped  from  the  ranks  of 
ordinary  garment  advertisers,  with  the  announcement  of  a 
patented  lining  canvas  that  was  guaranteed  to  preserve  the  shape 
of  a  garment  for  two  full  seasons.  Can  you  figure  how  each 
of  these  campaigns  finds  immediate  reflection  of  every  printed 
word  to  the  public  in  the  action  of  the  salesman  behind  the 
counter  and  on  the  road?    That  is  aimed  advertising. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      191 

Pd  like  to  get  the  goat  of  old  general  publicity  that  so  many 
seem  to  worship.  Compare  Kellogg  copy  with  Shredded  Wheat, 
and  tell  me  which  the  most  of  you  eat.  How  about  Ivory  Soap, 
or  Pears?  Whose  dividends  would  you  rather  share?  For  every 
general  publicity  success  which  is  merely  the  claim  of  supremacy 
without  supportable  reasons  or  logical  merchandizing  argument, 
I  will  show  you  one  hundred  of  the  other  sort.  The  one  may 
make  good  if  you  spend  enough  money — the  other  is  bound  to 
make  good  on  a  reasonable  expenditure.  Aimed  or  aimless  ad- 
vertising— ^which  do  you  recommend? 

This  is  just  what  Mark  Cross  advertising  does. 
Every  one  knows  that  Mark  Cross  leather  goods  are 
good  goods.  The  ads.  are  always  interesting  and  the 
reader  is  trained  to  read  them  for  bright  sayings  and 
attractive  offerings  and  style  suggestions. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  advertising  of  Marshall 
Field  &  Co.,  John  Wanamaker,  B.  Altman  &  Co., 
Rogers,  Feet  &  Co.,  and  scores  of  other  houses  who 
by  years  of  dependable  advertising  and  square  deal- 
ing have  won  public  confidence,  and  hold  it  despite 
the  efforts  of  others  to  win  it  away  from  them  by 
bargain  inducements. 

Regardless  of  whether  it  is  a  repetition  or  not,  I 
want  to  say  that  in  my  opinion  it  is  the  freedom 
from  comparative  prices  and  the  genuineness  of  their 
"sales"  when  they  announce  sales  of  these  stores  that 
make  their  advertising  so  wonderfully  effective  in 
comparison  with  that  of  others  pretending  to  hold 
sales  every  day  in  the  year. 

For  example,  when  Rogers,  Peet  &  Co.  announce 
their  midwinter  sales  of  overcoats  at,  say,  $12.50, 
there  are  thousands  of  New  Yorkers  who  by  years  of 
training  and  experience  know  that  this  sale  is  the 
opportunity  to  get  a  good  coat  cheap  for  the  next 
winter.     I  once  bought  a  $50  coat  for  $12.50  from 


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192      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Rogers,  Peet  &  Co.,  and  it  was  the  biggest  ad.  for 
them  they  ever  issued.  I  told  scores  of  my  friends 
about  it,  and  there  is  nothing  in  advertising  like  the 
praise  of  a  pleased  customer. 

I  am  not  going  to  attempt  to  call  attention  to  the 
hundreds  of  national  campaigns  which  have  won  suc- 
cess through  newspaper  advertising.  All  of  us  know 
them  well  through  seeing  them  in  our  daily  news- 
papers. 

But  there  is  one  of  these  which  sticks  in  my  mind 
in  a  way  that  leads  me  to  mention  its  peculiarities, 
for  it  represents  a  wonderful  leverage  for  additional 
local  business,  and  points  a  way  for  other  manu- 
facturers with  goods  in  general  demand  to  go  and  do 
likewise.  I  refer  to  the  advertising  of  the  Victor 
Talking  Machine  Company. 

H.  C.  Brown,  advertising  manager  and  now  vice- 
president  of  the  Victor  Company,  is  a  great  believer 
in  dominant  copy  for  his  concern.  He  rightly  says 
that  there  is  not  a  single  issue  of  any  daily  paper  in 
the  country  without  the  ad.  of  the  Victrola  through 
some  local  dealer.  When  the  company  advertises 
he  goes  in  for  copy  on  a  basis  which  lends  itself  to 
combination  with  ads.  of  the  dealers. 

Mr.  Brown  believes  in  advertising,  whether  the 
product  is  oversold  or  not,  for  he  realizes  that  adver- 
tising of  the  right  kind  possesses  a  wonderful  cumu- 
lative value  in  an  institutional  way,  does  much  to 
keep  all  agents  pepped  up,  and  emphasizes  the  domi- 
nance of  his  machines  over  all  others  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  have  them  and  those  who  sell  them. 

In  F.  Wallis  Armstrong,  his  advertising  agent,  Mr. 
Brown  finds  an  able  lieutenant  filled  with  a  fire  and 
purposeful  ambition  to  make  Victor  advertising  stand 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     193 

in  a  class  by  itself.  I  have  seen  this  pair  in  action, 
and  can  vouch  for  the  effectiveness  of  their  methods 
in  doing  big  things  ''now"  and  marvelously  well.  No 
wonder  their  advertising  has  been  successful. 

Another  most  interesting  national  advertising  ac- 
count in  the  newspapers  was  the  institutional  cam- 
paign from  Armour  &  Co.,  worked  out  by  E.  T. 
Merritt,  the  advertising  manager  and  myself,  three  or 
four  years  ago.  Ed  Merritt  had  been  a  fellow-solici- 
tor with  me  on  State  Street  years  before,  he  repre- 
senting The  Her  old  y  while  I  was  on  The  Inter-Ocean. 

The  scheme  was  to  pick  out  a  newspaper  in  each 
city  where  there  was  an  Armour  branch  house  and 
advertise  like  a  department  store,  50,000  or  100,000 
lines  a  year  for  Armour  products.  It  was  a  big  idea 
and  was  carried  on  successfully  in  many  cities,  but, 
like  many  another  big  thing,  was  not  carried  out  to 
the  maximum  because  the  man  higher  up  got  cold 
feet. 

In  an  interview  with  J.  Ogden  Armour  he  told  me 
that  for  institutional  purposes  it  would  be  worth 
millions  of  dollars  for  him  to  find  a  method  of  brand- 
ing each  steak  cut  from  the  side  of  beef  with  the 
word  "Armour,"  so  as  to  prevent  unscrupulous  deal- 
ers selling  cheaper  products  as  standard  goods.  We 
in  the  newspaper  business  do  not  half  appreciate  how 
much  advertising  is  killed  off  or  discouraged  by  the 
practice  of  substitutes. 

Years  and  years  ago  the  manufacturers  of  pro- 
prietary medicines  inaugurated  an  extensive  cam- 
paign against  this  substitution  evil — the  attempt  of 
the  druggist,  when  asked  for  an  advertised  article, 
to  substitute  one  of  his  own  by  saying,  **No,  we 
haven't  got  that,  but  we  have  something  of  our  own 


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194     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

make  just  as  good  or  better,'*  on  which  he  turned  an 
extra  profit  and  defeated  the  efforts  of  the  advertiser. 

The  practice  grew  so  extensively  that  no  worthy 
article  could  be  advertised  very  long  before  some  firm 
or  firms  in  the  business  of  making  imitations  would 
stock  up  the  druggists  with  goods  that  they  pretended 
to  make  themselves.  Regarding  the  relative  merits 
of  the  advertised  goods  and  the  substitutes,  I  think 
it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  former  were  apt  to  be 
better. 

So  dangerously  near  did  the  imitators  come  to  in- 
fringing on  the  trade-marks  and  rights  of  the  owners 
that  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  injunction  suits 
were  started,  all  of  which  made  it  rather  discouraging 
to  the  individual  or  firm  to  build  up  a  nation-wide 
or  extensive  business  through  advertising. 

Expiring  trade-marks,  such  as  that  of  Castoria, 
were  grasped  by  the  vultures  lurking  around  the  edges 
of  honorable  business,  and  fortunate  was  Fletcher  to 
have  prolonged  his  exclusive  right  to  continue  as  the 
sole  maker  of  "Fletcher's  Castoria"  by  having  added 
his  name  as  characterizing  his  individual  product. 

All  of  the  litigation  developed  by  the  struggle 
against  the  substitutor  helped  bring  about  the  era 
of  national  advertising  in  the  magazines  of  standard 
trade-marked  goods,  and  led  many  manufacturers 
to  build  up  erroneous  conceptions  regarding  imagined 
rights  which  they  thought  they  could  write  into 
Federal  statutes  giving  them  the  privilege  of  fixing 
prices  and  selling  under  licenses,  now  finally  decided 
against  them. 


XXXIV 

Shifting  Shopping  Centers 

As  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  I  have  lived  to  see 
New  York's  center  move  from  what  is  now  far  down- 
town—Canal and  Grand  Streets  and  along  the 
Bowery,  to  Fourteenth  Street,  up  Sixth  Avenue  to 
Twenty-third  Street,  toward  Broadway,  and  then  to 
Thirty-fourth  Street  at  Broadway,  and  east  to  Fifth 
Avenue  to  Forty-second  Street  and  west  to  Sixth 

Avenue. 

Each  move  has  left  those  merchants  who  failed  to 
go  with  the  tide  high  and  dry  of  trade  as  the  traffic 
went  elsewhere.  For  example,  Ridley  &  Son  died 
out  when  they  failed  to  go  up-town  from  Grand 
Street,  and  for  years  Arnold  Constable  and  Lord  & 
Taylor  suffered  until  they  moved  to  their  beautiful, 
modem  stores  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

Of  the  big  stores  remaining  at  the  old  stands,  that 
have  successfully  endured  regardless  of  the  departure 
of  nearly  all  worthy  competitors,  are  Wanamaker's, 
at  Broadway  from  Eighth  to  Tenth  Streets,  and 
Geo.  A.  Heam  &  Co.,  still  holding  the  fort  on  Four- 
teenth Street.  These  two  great  stores  by  reason  of 
strong  individuality  and  established  relations  con- 
tinue to  enjoy  wonderful  prosperity. 

Geo.  A.  Heam  refused  to  move  farther  north  be- 
cause he  figured  there  was  no  logical  reason  for  the 


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196     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

change  and  that  he  could  sell  cheaper  if  he  avoided 
the  heavy  cost  of  moving  and  new  investment.  He 
once  told  me  that  he  considered  Fourteenth  Street  as 
handier  for  the  mass  of  his  customers  than  any  other 
point  in  the  city. 

When  one  stops  to  consider  the  vastly  improved 
transportation  facilities  which  enable  people  from  the 
whole  metropolitan  district  to  reach  Fourteenth 
Street  to-day  compared  with,  say,  thirty  years  ago, 
when  that  street  was  the  shopping  center  of  New 
York,  he  must  concede  the  force  of  Mr.  Heam's  con- 
clusions. His  family  are  still  continuing  at  the  old 
site,  with  no  sign  of  a  change  in  policy. 

About  fourteen  years  ago,  when  B.  Altman  took 
his  store  away  from  Sixth  Avenue  and  Eighteenth 
Street  to  Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue, 
many  a  wise  and  knowing  head  among  the  merchants 
was  wagged  philosophically,  and  more  than  one  re- 
mark was  made  to  the  effect  that  the  beautiful  new 
building  would  prove  a  tomb  in  which  Altman's 
"class"  ambition  would  be  buried.  Altman's  had  for 
years  catered  to  the  quality  trade  of  the  great  city, 
and  to  have  a  charge  account  at  that  store  meant 
almost  social  standing. 

Many  of  the  great  merchants  who  for  years  had 
been  trying  to  wean  away  trade  from  Altman's 
secretly  rejoiced  at  the  move,  for  they  figured  that 
they  would  now  most  certainly  get  a  larger  piece  of 
the  most  desirable  trade.  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.  had 
previously  moved  from  Fourteenth  Street  and  Sixth 
Avenue  to  Broadway  and  Thirty-fourth  Street,  so 
those  who  were  left  believed  that  they  were  now 
doubly  blessed. 

Such  stores  as  O'Neill's,  Adams's,  Ehrich  Bros.,  sub- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      197 

sequently  Kesner  &  Co.,  Simpson-Crawford,  and 
Siegel  Cooper's  remained  on  Sixth  Avenue,  while 
Stem  Brothers,  Bonwit  Teller,  McCutcheon,  Best, 
and  Le  BoutilHer  stayed  on  Twenty-third  Street. 
This  was  a  group  of  great  emporiums  important 
enough  to  justify  any  reasonable  calculation  that  the 
neighborhood  they  occupied  would  continue  a  heavy 
shopping  center. 

The  late  Captain  Greenhut,  of  Siegel  Cooper,  leased 
the  old  Altman  building  and  opened  Greenhut  &  Co., 
to  be  run  as  a  "class  adjunct  "  to  the  Big  Store,  while 
Henry  Siegel  bought  out  Simpson  Crawford  &  Co.  and 
opened  The  14th  Street  Store  on  the  site  previously 
occupied  by  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co. 

Altman  and  Macy  took  the  big  traffic  up-town  with 
them,  and  the  opening  of  Gimbel  Brothers  and  Saks 
&  Co.  helped  the  current  north,  so  that  to-day 
there  is  nothing  left  of  any  of  the  great  stores  men- 
tioned which  did  not  subsequently  see  the  handwriting 
on  the  wall  and  get  out  when  the  getting  was  good. 

Siegel,  Simpson-Crawford,  and  The  14th  Street 
Store  went  up  when  Henry  Siegel  got  to  the  end  of 
his  rope;  Kesner  &  Co.,  the  successors  to  Ehrich  Bros., 
went  out,  as  they  deserved;  O'Neill's  and  Adams's 
blew  out;  Siegel  Cooper  &  Co.,  later  J.  B.  Greenhut  & 
Co.,  and  the  Greenhut  ventures  on  the  Altman  site, 
recently  closed  their  doors;  while  Le  Boutillier  just 
dried  up  and  quit. 

Bonwit  Teller  &  Co.,  Best  &  Co.,  McCutcheon,  and 
Stem  Brothers  went  north  to  increased  prosperity, 
taking  over  their  share  of  the  trade  represented  by 
the  suspension  of  operations  of  those  firms  unable  to 
see  or  unable  to  move  with  the  current. 

A  factor  of  great  importance  to  the  student  of  ad- 


B»«M< 


m  m 


1 


198      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

vertising  is  indicated  by  this  experience.  It  was  the 
stores  given  to  greatest  bluffs  and  absurd  sales  that 
were  unable  to  weather  the  storm.  Forced-draught 
methods  of  bargain  sales  and  fakes  practised  by  many 
of  those  who  failed  could  not  long  hold  the  trade  of 
women  intelligent  enough  to  know  values. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  present-day  great 
department  stores  and  specialty  shops  of  New  York 
do  a  sounder  business  on  a  firmer  foundation  than 
those  of  any  previous  period,  and  there  is  little  likeli- 
hood of  any  further  great  change  in  the  shopping  dis- 
trict. Means  have  been  adopted  to  keep  the  sweat 
shops  and  wholesalers  out,  and  the  Park  on  the 
north  would  seem  to  limit  further  progress  that  way. 

Chicago,  Boston,  and  most  other  American  cities, 
on  account  of  geographic  conditions,  have  never  suf- 
fered the  hardships  and  expense  represented  in  moving 
whole  retail  shopping  districts  like  New  York.  Many 
of  our  present  stores  have  moved,  not  two,  but  three, 
four,  and  five  times,  each  time  involving  heavy  ad- 
ditional expense  and  investment. 

Chicago's  loop  district,  now  extending  a  block  out- 
side on  the  east  to  Michigan  Avenue,  will  probably 
remain  its  shopping  center  for  years  to  come.  In 
Boston  the  big  stores  still  continue  to  hold  their 
place  along  Washington  Street,  nowithstanding  Back 
Bay  developments. 

Wanamaker  and  Heam  seem  to  prove  that  big,  well- 
conducted  stores  can  go  forward  to  constantly  increas- 
ing business  far  removed  from  other  stores,  but  there 
are  few  concerns  in  the  country,  aside  from  perhaps 
Marshall  Field  in  Chicago  and  R.  H.  Macy  in  New 
York,  which  have  a  strong  enough  following  and 
prestige  to  do  so. 


PART  IV 


i 


ni 


ih 


XXXV 

Selling  Advertising  Plus  Results 

The  advertising  manager  of  sound  experience  will 
appreciate  that  the  most  difficult  obstacle  to  overcome 
in  developing  new  business,  or  stimulating  old  busi- 
ness through  a  soliciting  force,  is  getting  advertisers 
to  use  copy  that  will  produce  results  which  they  can 
see.  Here  is  where  modem  advertising  management 
is  vastly  superior  to  the  old-time  method  with  heavy 
volume  of  business  the  only  goal. 

It  requires  considerable  diplomacy  to  reach  common 
ground  with  a  man  untrained  in  the  use  of  advertising 
and  unwilling  to  admit  his  ignorance.  The  prospect 
is  on  his  guard  against  any  attack  on  his  bank-account, 
perhaps  has  wasted  some  money  in  church  programs 
and  other  stuff  called  advertising,  and  of  course  has 
secured  no  results,  and  is  predisposed  to  cast  no 
more  of  his  bread  upon  the  waters. 

It  is  all  well  enough  to  have  aggressive  young  men 
of  good  approach  exert  their  most  convincing  selling 
talk,  which  will  eventually  get  some  business,  but 
if  we  are  to  reduce  our  selling  costs  we  must  work 
along  lines  of  less  resistance,  and  offer  something  that 
will  sell  almost  on  sight  and  when  sold  will  produce 
results. 

Even  our  largest  advertisers  will  gladly  grasp  at 


202      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

suggestions  regarding  successful  experience  elsewhere. 
Few  advertisers  have  yet  reached  the  point  where 
they  are  satisfied  that  their  copy  is  producing  as  sat- 
isfactory results  as  are  possible.  When  they  reach 
that  point,  it  is  best  to  leave  them  alone  in  their  fool's 
paradise. 

Therefore  it  is  suggested  that  the  advertising  man- 
ager, after  careful  study  of  the  ads.  in  exchanges,  cut 
out  the  best  specimens  of  those  in  different  lines,  to 
be  later  pasted  on  loose  sheets  for  compilation  ac- 
cording to  classification  of  business.  By  dating  each 
ad.  or  sheet,  a  collection  of  shoe  ads.,  for  example, 
covering  a  full  calendar  year  will  provide  constructive 
and  suggestive  material  of  convincing  force  when 
shown  to  a  local  shoe-dealer  and  guide  him  regarding 
seasonal  offerings. 

The  sheets  covering  different  lines  of  trade  can  be 
arranged  in  binders  and  carried  by  solicitors  calling 
on  prospects  in  any  line.  It  is  remarkable  how  in- 
teresting such  a  collection  of  ads.  is  to  the  dealer  who 
has  never  advertised  effectively.  He  knows  that  big 
business  has  been  created  through  advertising.  His 
palm  itches  to  get  increased  traffic  and  without  half 
the  argument  necessary  in  the  absence  of  the  sample 
ads.  he  will  say,  "I  would  like  to  try  ads.  like  these." 
It  is  then  up  to  your  soHcitor  to  get  him  up  some 
sample  ads.  like  the  ones  which  appeal  to  him,  and 
our  prospect  is  fairly  started  on  an  advertising  career. 

In  my  opinion,  it  is  during  this  formative  period 
that  the  work  of  our  advertising  manager  and  solici- 
tor can  do  much  to  make  the  prospect  a  permanent 
customer  or  kill  him  as  an  advertiser  for  years  if  not 
forever.  (For  fuller  detail  see  Appendix.)  After  we 
have  induced  him  to  make  an  appropriation  for  ad- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING        203 

vertising,  we  should  bring  him  to  a  state  of  mind  where 
he  will  not  expect  impossibiHties,  or  he  will  be  discour- 
aged before  his  advertising  can  become  effective.  (See 
"The  Time  Element  in  Advertising"  in  Part  VII.) 

There  is  true  art  to  be  exercised  at  this  point.  We 
must  not  throw  a  wet  blanket  on  his  ardor,  but  grad- 
ually bring  him  to  a  realization  of  what  he  must  do 
to  secure  results.  We  must  show  him  that  if  all  a 
man  had  to  do  was  to  advertise  to-day  to  reap  a 
heavy  profit  to-morrow,  there  would  be  nothing 
worth  while  in  business.  We  must  show  him  that 
the  results  of  advertising  are  cumulative,  some  coming 
overnight,  the  greater  and  more  enduring  part  being 
in  the  form  of  good- will  toward  his  establishment  as 
a  going  institution. 

He  must  be  shown  that  his  advertising  at  best  can 
only  be  expected  to  bring  the  would-be  buyer  into 
the  store,  where  it  is  up  to  him  to  make  the  sale  and 
a  regular  customer  of  the  inquirer.  If  his  shop  is  at- 
tractive, his  line  full,  and  his  salesmanship  sound, 
failure  to  sell  rests  with  him  and  not  on  the  advertis- 
ing. He  must  be  told  that  even  the  most  successful 
advertisers  experience  the  greatest  difficulty  in  their 
contact  with  the  customer  through  *' Six-dollar  Annie," 
and  that  therein  lies  a  promising  opporttmity  to  ren- 
der a  quality  of  service  impossible  of  duplication  in 
the  big  store. 

It  is  well  to  show  the  prospect  that  the  best  adver- 
tising experience  demonstrates  that  stores  which 
regularly  advertise  figure  that  without  advertising 
they  would  do  about  only  half  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness they  nov.^  do.  In  other  words,  the  second  half 
of  their  turnover,  in  which  is  included  their  whole 
margin  of  profit,  is  produced  by  advertising.     Success- 


\i  m 


lir  ^ 


204      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

ful  business  growth  with  a  determination  to  attain 
higher  traffic  every  year  is  produced  only  by  con- 
sistent and  persistent  advertising. 

Our  prospect  must  be  pledged,  before  his  first  ad. 
appears,  to  a  definite  campaign  to  run  for  a  season. 
It  will  be  well  to  keep  in  touch  with  him  during  the 
early  stages  to  see  that  his  merchandizing  methods 
are  sound  and  to  give  him  courage  to  continue. 
Here  is  where  the  advertising  manager  and  solicitors 
of  commercial  experience  can  be  of  great  assistance, 
helping  the  prospect  over  the  rough  spots  usually 
found  during  the  early  stages  of  any  selling  campaign. 

After  a  few  weeks  our  prospect  will  have  commenced 
to  see  results  from  his  advertising,  and  we  can  per- 
haps help  him  to  even  greater  returns  by  showing  him 
how  to  arrange  for  a  sale  that  will  fill  his  store  for  a 
day  and  clear  his  shelves  of  certain  accumulations  that 
otherwise  would  find  their  way  to  much  lower  prices 
or  the  scrap-heap. 

If  our  advertising  help  has  been  effective,  our  pros- 
pect will  be  close  on  our  trail  for  further  assistance 
and  larger  advertising.  That  is  the  nature  of  the 
animal.  If  our  advertising  has  not  been  effective 
it  is  then  up  to  us  to  give  further  consideration  to 
the  case  for  the  purpose  of  trying  out  some  other  line 
of  copy  and  plan  of  merchandizing. 

Unlike  the  physician  whose  practice  consists  in  try- 
ing first  one  thing  and  then  another  on  a  patient,  with 
no  positive  assurance  of  a  cure,  we  may  be  pardoned 
for  our  experiments,  for  we  know  positively  that  ad- 
vertising will  stimulate  any  business  to  increased 
sales  and  growth  when  once  we  find  the  way. 

Even  the  largest  and  most  persistent  advertisers 
must  confess  that  they  find  great  difficulty  in  ex- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      205 

plaining  why  they  occasionally  fail  to  get  satisfactory 
results  from  their  most  productive  medium.  They 
recognize  that  perhaps  the  reason  lies  in  the  fact  that 
people  on  that  day  do  not  want  the  goods  they  offer, 
which  is  an  admission  of  their  own  error  in  judgment 
regarding  merchandise  and  copy.  This  does  not  dis- 
courage them  in  their  continuous  policy  of  advertising, 
but  oftentimes  proves  of  value  in  arranging  their 
further  appeals. 

I  have  seen  a  half-column  ad.  in  a  certain  Chicago 
newspaper  fill  a  State  Street  clothing-store  with  cus- 
tomers of  the  buying  variety,  while  I  had  the  same 
storekeeper  tell  me  that  on  another  day  a  thousand- 
line  ad.  failed  to  get  out  a  corporal's  guard.  I  have 
seen  the  offer  of  a  baseball  to  every  kid  for  whom  a 
suit  was  bought  on  a  Saturday  crowd  a  store  to 
standing  room  only,  and  those  of  us  who  have  been 
in  the  harness  long  enough  have  seen  many  seemingly 
miraculous  results  produced  through  advertising. 


Il 


XXXVI 

Reaching  the  Distant  Manufacturer 

The  development  of  routine  local  business  by  our 
advertising  manager  through  the  use  of  his  soliciting 
force,  through  the  demonstration  to  local  dealers  not 
inclined  to  advertise  on  their  own,  by  advertising 
secured  from  distant  manufacturers  seeking  an  out- 
let or  larger  sales  in  our  city,  offers  most  interesting 
possibilities.  This  general  field  of  opportunity  is 
practically  as  unlimited  as  the  waters  of  the  sea, 
and  can  be  utilized  to  dig  out  new  business  by  the 
advertising  manager  who  is  really  competent,  and 
to  teach  local  dealers  the  value  of  advertising. 

For  our  purpose  here,  the  use  of  the  Graphic  Sur- 
vey referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter  and  described 
in  detail  in  Chapter  XXXI  of  Newspaper  Building 
provides  the  key.  For  every  present  general  adver- 
tiser entering  our  field  there  are  thousands  of  others 
with  products  they  would  like  to  sell  to  our  people 
if  they  only  knew  an  easy  and  practical  way  to  do 
so.  In  many  cases,  a  large  percentage  of  these  pros- 
pects are  shunted  to  the  magazines  by  the  adver- 
tising agents  for  many  reasons  which  are  considered 
in  other  chapters. 

If  a  newspaper  in  almost  any  city  or  town  will  but 
show  itself  willing  and  able  to  help  a  manufacturer 
to  a  distribution  among  leading  dealers  handling  his 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     207 

line  of  goods,  the  manufacturer  will  gladly  appropri- 
ate sufficient  money  to  pay  for  an  introductory  cam- 
paign. If  the  manufacturer  is  possessed  of  an  adver- 
tising manager  of  the  sort  too  important  in  his  own 
eyes  to  grasp  such  an  offer,  or  if  his  advertising  agent 
is  loath  to  co-operate  in  such  work,  there  are  hundreds 
of  others  in  his  line  who  will  jump  at  the  opportunity 
if  it  is  set  before  them  properly. 

Now  to  come  back  to  the  numerous  local  dealers 
who  perhaps  to-day  will  not  advertise.  They  nearly 
every  one  of  them  are  flooded  with  circular  matter 
from  distant  manufacturers  and  hounded  by  drum- 
mers asking  them  to  take  on  new  lines  or  new  articles. 
By  approaching  these  dealers  from  the  right  angle 
and  showing  them  that  if  they  will  co-operate  with 
us  we  can  secure  advertising  appropriations  for  them, 
they  will  furnish  tips  as  to  whom  to  approach  and 
give  us  information  regarding  the  comparative  sale 
of  different  standard  goods. 

If  the  advertising  manager  will  but  instruct  his  so- 
licitors how  to  establish  the  desired  relation  with  non- 
advertising  dealers  and  even  those  who  now  adver- 
tise, he  will  soon  find  himself,  and  such  auxiliary 
force  as  he  may  organize  for  the  correspondence  and 
co-operation,  so  busy  in  the  most  interesting  work  he 
ever  tackled  that  he  will  feel  happier  than  at  any 
time  in  his  life. 

For  example,  if  the  manufacturer  he  is  approaching 
makes  soap  of  a  certain  kind  or  a  whole  line,  the  ap- 
peal should  be  to  him  that offers  a  most  prom- 
ising market  for  his  goods  for  such  and  such  reasons. 
It  will  be  comparatively  easy  to  gather  data  from  a 
number  of  local  dealers  regarding  the  sale  of  soaps, 
and  to  get  them  to  pledge  their  co-operation  with 


m 


ml 


IB! 


208     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

window  and  counter  displays  in  conjunction  with  a 
local  advertising  campaign,  with  their  own  names  ap- 
pearing in  the  copy  as  outlets. 

I  should  not  advise  the  giving  of  dealers*  names  to 
the  manufacturer  in  the  preliminary  correspondence; 
only  state  the  trade  conditions  and  say  that  you  can 
get  distribution,  window  or  counter  display,  in  so 
many  stores.  Experience  shows  that  many  a  so- 
called  advertising  or  sales  manager  has  gone  the  short 
route  directly  to  the  dealer  and  received  orders  on 
unfulfilled  promises  of  advertising,  regardless  of  long- 
range  effects  of  such  shabby  treatment  of  dealer  and 
newspaper. 

In  many  cases  it  will  be  found  possible  to  get  a 
local  dealer  to  pledge  himself  to  stand  half  or  one- 
third  of  the  cost  of  a  reasonable  campaign  to  stimulate 
the  sale  of  a  certain  article.  The  difference  between 
local  and  foreign  rates  for  the  advertising  in  such 
a  case  can  be  utilized  to  the  advantage  of  the  local 
dealer  in  getting  him  to  sign  a  definite  term  contract 
without  disadvantage  to  the  interests  of  or  increased 
cost  to  the  distant  manufacturer.  The  Globe's  rate 
is  the  same  for  both  local  and  foreign  advertising,  but 
many  publishers  still  adhere  to  the  old  practice  of 
charging  more  to  those  from  out  of  the  city  on  the 
theory  that  they  are  compelled  to  pay  a  commission 
and  other  expenses  for  getting  it. 

If  we  stop  to  consider  that  by  such  work  we  are 
making  it  possible  for  the  local  dealer  to  do  a  larger 
volume  of  business  in  his  store,  and  for  the  distant 
manufacturer  to  secure  effective  distribution  and  most 
desirable  dealer  relation  through  an  advertising 
campaign  that  costs  him  probably  less  than  would  be 
required  to  make  the  necessary  investigation  and 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      209 

stock  up  the  dealer,  we  shall  appreciate  the  service 
we  can  thus  render. 

The  only  drawback  to  this  method  of  business 
stimulation  is  the  fact  that  we  must  understand  in 
advance  that  few  manufacturers  are  rigged  so  as  to 
have  time  to  deal  with  2,500  different  daily  news- 
papers and  18,000  country  weeklies.  They,  of  neces- 
sity, must  head  up  the  different  branches  of  their 
operation,  and  do  things  along  generalized  lines.  This, 
however,  has  never  prevented  a  real  red-blooded  man 
from  making  an  exception  from  the  rule  where  a  prop- 
osition for  the  increased  sale  of  his  goods  struck  him 
as  real  and  worth  the  experiment. 

This  brings  us  to  another  interesting  point  for 
possible  development  which  has  been  tried  out  suffi- 
ciently at  various  places  to  be  found  sound  in  prin- 
ciple. I  refer  to  the  combined  appeal  of  a  group 
of  newspapers  willing  to  render  the  same  degree  of 
service  as  a  group  covering  a  certain  section  of  the 
country  important  enough  to  warrant  the  considera- 
tion of  almost  any  manufacturer.  The  advertising 
manager  possessed  of  the  big  idea  which  he  has 
demonstrated  in  a  number  of  cases  should  invite  the 
co-operation  of  other  newspapers  in  his  section,  and 
the  problem  of  attracting  the  interested  attention  of 
the  distant  manufacturer  will  be  solved. 

Such  a  group  could  afford  to  buy  regular  space 
in  the  trade  papers  to  demonstrate  the  possibiHties  for 
trade  expansion  in  their  territory,  to  circularize  im- 
limited  numbers  of  manufacturers  and  to  pay  for 
effective  representation  to  carry  their  selling  argu- 
ment directly  to  the  doors  of  the  distant  manufact- 
urer. We  shall  consider  this  plan  in  more  detail  in 
another  part. 


^ 


«l 


2,0     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

In  my  experience,  when  it  comes  to  rendering  the 
sort  of  service  I  have  in  mind  and  which  we  m  the 
office  of  The  New  York  Globe  have  done  very  effec- 
tively the  price  asked  for  advertising  is  a  secondary 
matter  to  the  advertiser  if  he  gets  the  results  he  seeks. 
In  the  end  the  advertiser  must  pay  for  the  service  he 
receives.  There  is  no  use  trying  to  deceive  him  or 
ourselves  in  this  respect.  If  our  newspaper  rates  are 
too  low  to  pay  for  the  sort  of  service  we  must  render 
to  secure  the  business  we  should  get,  the  easiest  route 

to  it  is  higher  rates.  ,     .  ,  •      „4- 

This  I  appreciate,  will  be  received  with  merriment 
by  both  newspaper-men  and  advertisers   and  their 
agents,  for  it  is  at  variance  with  usual  rules     Looked 
at  from  the  broadest  constructive  angle,  it  will  be 
found  that  my  conclusion  is  sound.    It  resolves  itse  f 
into  the  equation  of  comparative  cost  of  selling  goods^ 
If  the  newspapers  can  secure  data  and  information 
for  the  distant  manufacturer  for  5  per  cent,  of  what 
it  would  cost  him  to  gather  it.  isn't  it  obvious  that 
he  should  be  willing  to  pay  them,  say,  25  Pf  cent,  ot 
the  direct  saving  to  him,  through  a  shght  advance 
in  rates  to  cover  the  cost  involved  m  making  many 
such  investigations  which  do  not  pan  out?    I  vote 
yes   and  so  will  the  manufacturer,  regardless  of  the 
likes  or  inclinations  of  the  buyer  of  space. 

As  is  indicated  in  other  chapters,  I  incline  to  the 
view  that  eventually  the  service  that  I  have  outlmed 
will  be  rendered  by  the  newspapers  through  recog- 
nized and  dependable  advertising  agencies.  By  so 
doing  the  work  will  be  standardized  and,  passing 
through  the  agents,  will  have  their  approval  and 
support. 


XXXVII 

Making  New  Local  Advertising 

In  the  development  of  new  business  from  distant 
manufacturers  through  co-operative  effort  with  local 
dealers,  I  wish  to  show  how  the  advertising  manager 
can  put  over  many  quick-acting  measures  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  larger  retail  shops  and  department 
stores.  It  is  the  same  thing  as  indicated  for  the 
small  non-advertising  stores,  but  in  many  cases  has 
a  particular  appeal  to  certain  manufacturers. 

A  great  many  makers  of  various  articles  for  house- 
hold and  general  use  are  particularly  anxious  to  put 
their  line  into  the  big  stores,  and  more  often  than  not 
find  it  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible,,  to  get 
the  buyers  to  take  on  their  goods.  In  our  relations 
with  the  big  stores  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with 
ruthless  "buying  methods"  of  these  concerns.  They 
are  past-masters  in  starting  to  dicker  after  the  other 
fellow  has  quoted  his  absolutely  bottom  price.  That 
is  where  they  begin  to  do  business.  They  will  never 
concede  that  bottom  has  been  reached. 

The  big-store  buyer  probably  rightfully  believes  that 
in  taking  on  a  new  line  or  a  new  article  he  is  con- 
ferring a  great  service  in  the  way  of  direct  or  indirect 
advertising  and  recognition.  He  figures  that  counter 
room  in  his  store  at  locations  where  traffic  is  heavy  is 


212 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


I  m 


something  which  the  manufacturer  should  pay  for  in 
the  way  of  special  price  inducement  to  him.  He  also 
figures  that  taking  on  a  new  line  involves  a  certain 
degree  of  risk  either  in  displacing  goods  which  he 
knows  will  sell  or  in  the  way  of  possible  decreased 
profit  from  so  many  square  feet  of  floor  space  or 
counter  room. 

We  must  concede  some  degree  of  justification  for 
this  attitude,  but  the  big-store  man  often  so  out- 
rageously overplays  his  hand  as  utterly  to  defeat  the 
ends  he  really  seeks,  forcing  makers  of  high-grade  one- 
price  goods  to  find  other  outlets,  which  the  big  stores 
often  attack  later  on  by  ruthless  price-cutting.  The 
big  stores  cannot  assume  to  handle  only  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  various  lines  of  goods  or  articles  offered 
them.  They  take  on  only  those  they  want  to,  those 
they  have  to,  those  they  are  sure  will  sell,  and  those 
with  which  they  are  willing  to  take  on  a  gamble,  more 
often  than  not  wholly  at  the  manufacturer's  expense. 

The  best  of  the  big  department  stores  openly  admit 
that  they  must  carry  any  article  in  general  demand, 
and  that  it  is  poor  business  to  keep  repeatedly  telling 
customers  they  do  not  carry  "Pears'  soap,"  for 
example,  but  have  something  of  their  own  *'just  as 
good."  They  have  found  that  such  tactics  drive  a 
customer  to  a  store  that  carries  what  she  wants. 
The  big  stores  have  been  accused,  and  justly  so,  of 
purposely  cutting  prices  on  standard  articles  to  demon- 
strate the  money-saving  in  buying  in  their  store. 

Many  manufacturers  with  standard  advertised  arti- 
cles have  done  everything  in  their  power,  by  building 
imaginary  protections  about  their  patents  and  selling 
plans,  to  prevent  their  articles  being  sold  for  less 
than  the  advertised  price.    Their  claim  that  price- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     213 

cutting  disorganizes  their  distribution  organization 
may  be  justified,  but  thus  far  practically  all  the  final 
decisions  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  have 
been  against  their  contentions,  and  for  years  they 
have  been  valiantly  endeavoring  to  secure  the  enact- 
ment of  the  so-called  Stevens  bill  through  Congress 
to  give  them  the  protection  they  desire. 

The  contention  is  that  if  the  big  department  stores 
cut  the  price  of  a  standard  article,  the  numerous  small 
dealers  must  meet  the  cut  or  give  up  selling  the  goods. 
They  claim  they  should  be  allowed  to  stipulate  at 
what  price  their  article  should  be  sold  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  good-will  values  they  have  created  for 
their  trade-marks,  trade  names,  and  patents.  In  this 
I  agree  with  them,  but  not  to  the  extent  they  seek  to 
secure  through  the  objectionable  and  dangerous  phases 
of  the  Stevens  bill. 

I  have  wandered  far  afield  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
fining certain  of  the  underlying  factors  in  the  relation 
between  the  distant  manufacturer  and  your  local  de- 
partment store.  In  the  absence  of  a  knowledge  of 
these  conditions  the  advertising  manager  and  solicitor 
are  at  a  disadvantage  in  seeking  to  bring  the  two  ends 
of  the  proposition  into  harmonious  co-operation. 

Our  local  newspaper,  through  its  close  relations  with 
the  department  store,  can  frequently  secure  for  the 
distant  manufacturer  the  representation  he  most  de- 
sires on  the  counters  of  the  big  stores.  We  have 
avenues  of  approach  wholly  impossible  to  the  manu- 
facturer. In  the  first  place,  we  know  the  owners 
of  the  store  personally,  while  the  mauufacturer  must 
approach  the  proposition  thro'ugh  perhaps  a  badly 
equipped  drummer  seeking  an  audience  with  a  hard- 
headed,  merciless  buyer.    It  should  be  comparatively 

16 


^#l|  1 1 


1 


I 


I  'I 


214      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

easy  for  the  advertising  manager,  on  the  strength  of 
an  assured  local  advertising  campaign  to  be  paid 
for  by  the  manufacturer,  to  secure  the  necessary  co- 
operation of  the  store  owner  for  the  display  of  oc- 
casional articles. 

From  the  storekeeper's  standpoint  the  service  of 
the  newspaper  in  securing  additional  advertising 
space  for  his  store  should  be  welcomed  and  grasped 
as  an  opportunity.  He  can  well  afford  to  take  a  very 
small  profit  on  the  goods  for  the  period  of  the  short 
campaign,  because  the  percentage  of  selling  cost  repre- 
sented by  advertising  is  eliminated. 

Likewise  the  distant  manufacturer  should  be  glad 
to  carry  on  introductory  sales  in  this  way,  because 
from  his  viewpoint  the  expense  of  salesmen,  railroad 
fares,  hotel  bills,  and  "extras"  is  cut  out,  and  many 
very  difficult  but  profitable  distributing  outlets  are 
established  on  legitimate  price  basis. 

I  know  of  cases  where  the  manufacturers  were  so 
anxious  to  get  into  a  certain  store  that  they  cut 
prices  far  below  the  cost  of  production  on  introduc- 
tory orders,  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  same  sort  of  * '  buy- 
ing eloquence"  that  too  many  newspaper-men  have 
swallowed  whole  in  selling  space  to  the  same  clever 
traders. 

Those  newspapers  which  still  foolishly  adhere  to  the 
nile  that  foreign  advertising  appearing  over  the  name 
of  a  local  dealer  is  "local**  advertising  upon  which 
they  refuse  commission  to  agents  stand  squarely  in 
their  own  light  and  can  never  expect  to  receive  their 
full  share  of  business.  Let  us  concede  that  the 
man  who  develops  an  account,  prepares  the  copy,  and 
guarantees  the  payment  of  the  bill  is  entitled  to  his 
compensation. 


Editor  ^  Publither  for  February  t,  19 JO 


n 


IS 


is  the  coming  thought  in  business  promotion 
through    the    use    of    printed  salesmanship. 


i9 


The  daily  nevrspaper  provides  the  only  medium  through  which  the 
purposes  of  the  distant  manufacturer  can  be  linked  up  to  local 
dealers_everywhere  in  exact  accord  with  distribution  or 
^       desire   to   promote  sales. 

Localized  National  Advertising  Is  National  Advertising  Over 
the  Signatures  of  Local  Dealers 


A   STRIKING   DEMONSTRATION 

In  the  Editor  mnd  Publiaher  of  January  18  it  was  shown 
that  the  8,160  daily  Engli«h  language  newspapen 
in  the  United  State*  ciioilated.  per  issue 28,625,000 

That  one  line  in  all  the  newspapers  would  cost  the  ad- 
vertiser under  minimum  contract $81.63 

That  it  cost  in  reaching  1,000  newspaper  buyers  . .' ilhi  cents 

That  it  cost  to  reach  every  buyer  of  a  daily  newspaper 

or  any  appreciable  part  of  them '/jo  of  one  cent 

To  reach  these  same  people  with  a  postal  card: 

Postal  Cards  @  2  cents $20.00  per  thousand 

Addressing  @  $2.00  per  M 2.00 

Printing  @  $1.00  per  M 1.00 

Addresses  @  $5.00  per  M 5.00 

$28.00  - 
28,625,000  postals  *at  $28  per  thoosand $801,500 

Now  just  glance  at  these  figures: 

A  70-iiiie  ad  (approximately  the  size  of  a  postal  card)  ia> 
■ertfd  in  each  of  the  2,166  daily  newspapcis  erery  other 
day  (156  times  a  year)  woold  cost S672  999 

or  f  128,000  less  than  the  coat  of  a  ainrle  postal  to  28,625.001)  ' 

people  if  it  were  possible  to  get  their  addresses  and  mail  it 

to  them. 


J 


Newspaper  advertising  is  the  cheapest  and  most  effective  form  of 

advertising  and  the  only  medium  permitting  Icxralized 

national  advertising. 


Member 
A.  B.C. 


The  New  York 


-#%.  Now" 

e    180,000  a  Day 


JASON    ROGEES,  Publisher 


Th.  Olob*  tll»tn  aftnu  ftill  CMimlMlMi  m  •Localized  Naironal  A«>wtlahig,>  and  yrgn  alt  »th«f  n«wapap*n  ta  do  th*  aama. 


♦  See  table  opposite  page  58,  "  Circulation  and  Advertising   Rates  of  2.166 
Dailies  Summarized. 


<^ii 


^l 


?5 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      215 

In  the  smaller  cities,  where  everybody  knows  every- 
body else,  where  advertising  rates  are  comparatively 
low,  activities  along  the  lines  I  have  indicated  should 
be  prolific  in  results.  Even  here  in  New  York  we, 
in  the  Globe  office,  have  achieved  marked  success  in 
a  number  of  instances,  most  notably,  perhaps,  in  the 
case  of  the  Gossard  Corset  described  in  Chapter  XVI 
of  Newspaper  Building  and  in  connection  with  many 
food  products  referred  to  in  Chapter  XV  of  the  same 
book. 


i 


« 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      217 


i 


XXXVIII 

Selling  the  Newspapers  by  States 

Aside  from  the  service  devices  suggested  in  previous 
chapters  and  in  Chapters  XV  and  XVI  of  Newspaper 
Building,  which  are  fundamental  and  can  be  expanded 
and  elaborated  to  meet  almost  any  line  of  endeavor, 
there  are  broader  and  bigger  ideas  which  should  he 
developed  to  secure  the  increased  use  of  newspaper 
advertising  by  manufacturers  and  retailers  for  busi- 
ness expansion  and  to  the  profit  of  our  newspapers. 
In  191 2  the  writer  started  a  series  of  short  first -page 
advertising  talks  entitled  "Advertising  the  Adver- 
tiser," by  John  Fallon,  in  The  New  York  Globe,  whicti 
attracted  so  much  attention  that  they  were  offerecl 
free  of  charge  to  any  daily  newspaper  which  would 
use  them.  The  result  was  that  within  six  weeks  over 
800  newspapers  were  printing  them  simultaneously. 

Probably  nothing  short  of  a  Presidential  message  or 
some  big  item  of  national  importance  ever  received, 
such  general  and  standardized  presentation,  which 
shows  what  could  be  done  if  all  the  newspapers,  for 
a  short  period,  would  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  for 
their  own  best  interests.  After  a  few  months,  as 
some  of  the  newspapers  insisted  on  paying  their  way, 
I  organized  the  United  Newspapers  to  continue  the 
printing  of  advertising  talks  and  to  do  many  other 


things  for  the  stimulation  of  advertising  for  the  news- 
papers. 

At  one  time  we  had  nearly  500  newspapers  repre- 
sented in  the  United  Newspapers.  At  that  time  there 
was  a  moribund,  ineffective  organization  known  as 
the  Daily  Newspaper  Club,  consisting  of  some  twenty 
or  thirty  daily  newspapers  endeavoring  by  various 
means  to  do  something  in  the  same  line.  Conducted 
by  a  small  coterie  of  those  primarily  seeking  advan- 
tage for  themselves  (the  big  papers) ,  it  never  got  out 
of  the  would-like-to-be  class.  Then  there  was  ofl  in 
the  distance  the  National  Newspapers,  which  never 
got  into  action,  composed  of  fifty  big  city  news- 
papers which  pretended  that  they  covered  the  whole 
United  States. 

For  the  broadest  possible  benefits  to  the  newspapers 
of  the  country  as  a  whole,  I,  in  19 13,  got  what  was 
left  of  the  two  ineffective  newspaper  organizations 
to  combine  with  the  United  Newspapers,  then  440 
strong,  and  become  the  Bureau  of  Advertising  of  the 
American  Newspaper  Publishers*  Association.  But  no 
sooner  was  the  thing  accomplished  than  I  realized 
that  I  had  made  a  mistake.  All  initiative  and  force- 
ful purpose  was  ironed  out  of  the  movement  before  it 
was  taken  into  the  A.  N.  P.  A.,  and  at  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  committee  placed  in  charge  it  was  decided 
not  to  give  out  lists  of  members  of  the  bureau  and  not 
to  recommend  any  specific  newspapers  to  an  adver- 
tiser. The  440  members  of  the  United  Newspapers 
who  had  paid  their  dues  or  agreed  to  pay  them  were 
not  taken  in  "as  is,"  but  invited  to  sign  a  new  ap- 
plication for  membership,  which  reduced  the  number 
nearly  one  half. 

In  June,  1913,  I  presented  to  the  Board  of  Control 


14 


218     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

of  the  old  Association  of  American  Advertisers  the 
plan  upon  which  the  Audit  Bureau  of  Circulations  was 
organized.  For  months  I  had  been  the  single  repre- 
sentative of  the  newspapers  in  perfecting  the  plan 
in  co-operation  with  the  advertising  managers  of  many 
large  national  advertisers.  When  the  pressure  grew 
too  great  for  me  I  organized  The  Gilt  Edge  News- 
papers, about  300  strong,  from  which  I  and  a  com- 
rmttee,  consisting  of  H.  H.  Bliss,  of  The  Janesville 

(Z^L^^T'  ^"'^  ^-  '^^^^^^'  «f  The  Jackson 
Mich.)  Pa^m/,-^and  J.  L.  Sturtevant,  of  The  Wausau 

ms.)  Record-Herald,  produced  the  very  moderate 
basis  of  dues  of  $26  a  year  for  the  smaller  newspapers 
My  expenence  in  studying  and  developing  these 
organizations  had  given  me  unusual  opportunities  for 
studying  conditions  all  over  the  country,  regarding 
the  contact  between  newspapers  and  advertisers,  and 
to   consider   improved   devices   for  producing  more 
satisfactory  results  for  all  concerned.     I  beheld  the 
cOTitrollers  of  advertising  space  calmly  sitting  in  their 
othces,  waiting  for  business  to  come  to  them    and 
manufacturers  wishing  to  buy  and  use  the  space  pre- 
vented from  doing  so,  owing  to  the  absence  of  ma- 
chinery and  proper  facilities  to  do  so  effectively  and 
economically. 

Only  in  a  few  spots  in  the  whole  country  had  the 
newspapers  of  any  large  enough  block  of  worth-while 
temtory  got  together  for  any  purposeful  effort  to 
sell  their  goods.    It  may  be  said  that  the  advertising 
agents  were  there  to  serve  the  prospective  customer 
1  hey  were,  but  more  often  than  not  they  switched 
him  into  the  magazines  just  the  same  as  I  would 
have  done  had  I  been  in  the  business,  because  most 
newspapers  refuse  to  aUow  commission  on  local  busi- 


■  3 

i 


i 


First  Quarterly  Report— 


THIRD  QUARTER.  1913 


—  THE- 


"Gilt  Edge  Newspapers*' 

(Not  Incorporated) 


A  CROUP  OF  LEADING  MEDIUMS  WHICH  "SELL  ADVERTISING 

AS  A  COMMODITY." 

Each  of  these  newspapers  plainly  states  its  circulation  and  has  signed  agreement  providing 
for  quarterly  reports  with  permission  to  audit  and  verify  its  claims  by  any  body  of  Advertisers  recog- 
nized by  the  Gilt  Edge  Newspapers  as  an  organization. 

This  first  quarterly  report  is  sent  out  for  the  purpose  of  showing  advertisers  which  newspapers 
in  the  country  wish  to  be  lined  up  with  those  standing  for  circulation  verification  and  has  been  pre- 
pared before  certain  of  the  members  have  had  time  to  furnish  circulation  data  in  the  form  required. 
In  cases  where  blank  lines  are  shown,  the  newspaper  has  joined  within  a  very  few  days  and  has  not 
had  time  to  furnish  the  information  we  demand  Subsequent  issues  will  be  complete  or  the  name  of 
the  newspaper  omitted. 

Every  circulation  figure  belcw  w^l  be  proved  on  requesL 

CIRCILATIO.N    nAT4  ^, AKVEKTISINO    «*T*  

rroouUDoi.     f«yi.t  for  for  Tor  ——,,,    ^.     ,A.      ..'".J.        .  j! 

««t  »«.  iui..    .u»«.    F,..  a„  oo-,>  c,*;.  E;;  ss.  ""'""•  "^ 

Albany  <N.Y.)  Times-Union E  100.253    42,810    41.623     40.155     46.642  60    40    8     12)  308  "i      6        84         84~ 

Alliance  'Ohio)  Review E     IS.Oai       4,9S3       5.053       5.020      4,090  60    40     7     13     280    —    —     21-26     — 

Alliance  fOhio)  Review S.-W  3.428      3.163       3,176      3,187  —  100     7     13     280     —     —     21-26    — 

Alpena  (Mich.)  News E     12,700      2.181       2,124       2,205       2.215  86     14     7     13    280     —    —     10-15  lO-XS 

Amsterdam  fN.Y.)  Recorder&Democrat.E    31,267      4.106      4.018      4,028      4.095  83    17    7     13    305    —    —      50        25 

Anaconcla  (MorH.)  Standard .M    10.134       — - 75    25    7     13    278      ♦     "4      _        

Anaconda   (Mont.)   Standard ,.S  — —       '    —  75    25    7    13    278    4)    4)      _        _ 

Asbiiry  Park  fN.  J.)  Press E     10.150      6.190      6.313      6,575'     6.420  —     —     7     13     294     —    —    2V-30  25-30 

Aurora  (111.)   Beacon-News ^ E     35.000     14.2.';9     14.228     14,171     14,J.'0  51     49     7     13     294     2}     2J       —         — 

Beaumont  (Texas)  Enterprise M   ^.040     11.618     l'2,270     11,798     11.549  32     68     7     13     280      6      5      —        

Beaumont  (Texas)  Enterprise. ..,.„ S  11.61*    12,270    11.798    11,549  32    68    7    13    2*0      6      5     —       _ 

Beaver  (Pa.)  Times , „.E     25.623        3,775      3,710      3.191  90     10     7     13     280    —     —15-18      — i 

Belleville  (Ont.)  Intelligencer E     10,000      1.990      2.2.12      2.214       2,204  63     37     7     13     287     —     _       35         14 

Beloit  (Wis.)  News E     15.J2S       4,610       4.713       4.860       4.774  68     32     7     13     287     —     —15-20     15-20 

Berlin  (Ont.)  News-Record E     18.338        .S8     12     7     13     294     —     —28-31      

Binghamton  (N.  Y)  Press  and  Leader...  E     48.443     24.325     24,508     24,312     24.579  53    47     7     13     294     10    6J       —        — 

Birmingham  (Ala.)  News , E  180.000       34.269     35.114     36,488  70    30    7     13     308     8       8      1  12    1  12 

Birmmgham  (Ala)  News S  33.853     33,823     35.229  70    30     7     13     308     8      8       1  12    «   12 

Bloomington  (111.)  Pantagraph ....M     25.763     15,446     15,311     1.5,304     1.5,486  40607     13     294       3      3      —        __ 

Bridgeton  (N.  J.)  News , E     14,209       4.796      4.805       4,818  60     40     7     13     287    —     —       35        20 

Burlington  (lowa>  H.jwk-Eye. , M     27.000       9,061       9,137       8.924  30     70     7     13     2971  2»     21       —         — 

Burlington  (Iowa)  Hawk-E^-e S  10.120     10.115     10,172  30    70    7     13     297l  21     21       —        — 

•Butte  (Mont.)  Miner , M     39.165      8,435      8,804       8.915      8.733  68    32     7     13     280    —    —     loo-    w> 

Butte  (Mont.)  Miner , S  13.791     14,003     13.961     13,985  68     32     7     13     280    —     —     l'6o      S7 

Cairo  (III.)  Citizen ..„..,.. E     14.548      2,663       2,450      2.530      2.465  63     37     7     13    280     1}     —       21         12 

Calgary  (Alta.)Herara  ... . -...E     43,704  19.844     19.735     20.380  57     43     8     13     305       5       5       70        70 

Cambridge  (Ohio)  Jeffersonhin E     15.000      S,82S       5,890      5.779      5.850  —     —     7     13     276    —     —       22        IH 

Canton  (in.)  Register .- E     10.453       5.651       5.562       S..W1       5.266  38    62     7     13     294     —    —      «        21 

Carlisle(Pa.)  Herald.     ...„.,„ E    10.303       2.280      2,286      2,295  45    55    6    13    280    -    -      n        _ 

^'^' 1^  *,'J   'r-^Al!!.'' - \^     *"50       2.738       2,828       2,766       2.722  70     30     7     13     290     -     -11-16       - 

Charlotte  (N.  C.)  Observer ...M     48.500     10.188      9.967     10.065     10.043  30     70     7     13     294       7     51      —         _ 

Charlotte  (N.  C.)  Observer • S  14,210    14.025     14.090    14.338  30     70     7     13->94       7sl—        _ 

Charlottetown  (P.  El.)  Guardian.. ..,.J«     14.000      3,5  0      3.413      3,423      3,497  60    40    7     13     287     3       ij       42         14 

Chartoftetown  (P.  E.  I.)  Guardian., .,...E  2,633      2,503      2,516      2,601  25    75    7    13    287    3      U      42        14 

Charlottefown  (P.  E.  I.)  Guardian.. ,,..W  3.898      3.720      3,787       3.879  58    42     7     13     287     3       li       42         14 

Clinton  ( no  Journal ,..M      6,165       1,911       1.P42       1,915       1,995  40    60    7     13     274     —     --  10-lS      _ 

Concordja    Kan.VBIade..,,,.. ..;E       5.:03       1.507       1,507       1,507       1.507  50     50    7     13     308      3       J     10^15  10-15 

Concordia    Kan.3  Empire.. W  1..52S      1.525      1,525      1,525  SO    SO    6    13    280      3      1    lO^lS  lolis 

Connellsville  (Pa.)  Courier. .-....,.. E     12.845      6.668      6.604       6.6?1       6.590  45     55     7     13     2831  -     —  .    30        _ 

Crawfordsville  (Ind;)  Journal....,.- ,.E      9,371       —    —    .—      __  _ 

Coshocton  (Ohio)  Tribup^.  M     11.000       3.869      3.824       3.892  35    65'    7     13     282*'-     -       12|       ol 

Danville  (III.)  Commercial-Nev<«;_ E     27.871     12.595     12.483     12.529     12.485  42     58    7     13    280    —     —       «         M 

Davenport  (Iowa)  T;mes._. ;...E     45.000     22.168     22.552     22,691     22.778  47     53     7     18     280     31     34       __         _ 

R^yi^"?K'/?,'j'?l-^^*?V-'7---^--'--.E"*-"^     ^•''^     30.311     30.074     30.089  65     3S     7     13     203     41    41       _         _ 

DeKalb(  11.)  Chronicle../., g      8.102      2..115       2.492      2.360      2.346  40    60    7     13     287    -T    J       i©        in 

Ddaware  (Ohio)  Gamte.    .„.,,.;.,.... E     10.000      1,713       1.749      1,759      1.787  80    20    7    13     274- 10  < 

Des  Moines  (Iowa)  Cjipital E    86.368       35    65    7    13    %5    «     <<; 

Dubuque  (Iowa)  Times-Journal _.M1,„'  .,  ^  •-.    ,      .    ,  -         ^    «      6      . -        _ 

Dubuque  (loWa)  Times-Journal E?  ^^-^^    "'^    "•**    "-"4    11,692  42    58    7    13    280    31    3        $0        42 


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BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      219 

ness.  We  newspapers  had  not,  and  have  not  to-day, 
made  it  as  easy  and  profitable  for  agents  to  use  us 
for  a  national  campaign  as  the  magazines.  Until  we 
do  we  can  expect  no  better  treatment  than  we  get. 

It  may  be  urged  by  some  that  through  their  special 
representatives  the  newspapers  could  provide  the 
bridge  between  the  manufacturer  and  their  news- 
paper. This  relation  will  be  treated  in  more  detail 
in  a  later  chapter.  Be  as  effective  as  he  will,  the 
special  representative  is  chiefly  effective  in  following 
up  the  big  agency  advertisers  for  copy,  and  going  out 
from  time  to  time  and  making  occasional  calls  on 
advertisers  on  his  trips.  He  is  up  against  the  same 
handicap  as  would  be  a  man  from  the  home  office. 
Few  business  men  can  afford  to  give  much  time  to 
a  man  representing  a  single  newspaper  or,  for  that 
matter,  any  small  group  of  newspapers. 

I  studied  the  conditions  carefully  and  made  up 
my  mind  that  the  best  way  to  sell  the  newspapers  as 
a  whole  to  national  advertisers  and  to  any  manufact- 
urer was  through  a  new  style  of  organized  effort. 
Something  bigger,  more  definite,  and  more  purposeful 
than  the  Bureau  of  Advertising,  The  United  News- 
papers, or  The  Gilt  Edge  Newspapers,  must  be 
created  to  do  the  thing,  and  I  devised  the  plan  of 
Graphic  Commercial  Surveys  described  in  Chapter 
XXIX  of  Newspaper  Buildings  offering  to  provide 
filing  offices  in  New  York  and  Chicago  free  of  charge 
if  enough  newspapers  made  the  surveys.  My  plan 
was  to  create,  through  the  surveys,  a  background 
for  consolidating  and  utilizing  the  best  experience 
of  the  Wisconsin  Daily  League,  the  Inland  Press  As- 
sociation, and  the  Ohio  Select  List,  and  organizing 
similar  movements  all  over  the  country. 


m\ 


220     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Out  of  1 60  newspapers  which  promised  to  prepare 
surveys,  only  3 1  came  through.  The  ones  completed 
were  wonderfully  effective  and  undoubtedly  brought 
satisfactory  results  to  the  newspapers  making  them, 
and  stand  as  a  striking  testimonial  to  the  willingness 
of  these  newspapers  to  co-operate. 
^  Before  unfolding  my  later  plans  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  an  effective  national  advertising-getting  body 
I  wish  briefly  to  touch  upon  the  early  efforts  in  this 
direction  as  they  appear  to  me  or  outsiders  much 
interested  in  watching  their  progress. 

The  Wisconsin  Daily  League,  for  which  H.  H.  Bliss 
of  The  Janesville  (Wis.)  Gazette,  as  secretary,  has  done 
really   wonderfully   effective   educational   work,    ac- 
cording to  the  support  back  of  his  efforts,  has  fallen 
short  of  its  goal  only  through  the  failure  of  its  men 
to  realize  what  they  were  out  for.     The  Milwaukee 
papers  did  not  co-operate,  so  the  organization  was 
deprived  of  the  financial  backing  it  should  have  re- 
ceived.     Wisconsin   provides   admirable   ground   for 
the  dernonstration  of  the  plan  for  sectional  advertising 
promotion,  but  its  papers  apparently  are  not  strong 
enough  to  stand  the  expense  of  a  real  campaign.  They 
have  had  valuable  experience  and  will  be  in  fine 
shape  to  swing  into  Hne  as  part  of  a  big  national 
campaign  when  it  develops. 

The  Ohio  Select  List,  of  which  Robert  E.  Ward,  of 
Chicago  and  New  York,  is  advertising  special  repre-  . 
sentative,  has  done  big  and  important  work,  according 
to  its  possibilities,  hobbled  by  the  restrictions  re- 
garding membership.  All  newspapers,  big  and  small, 
in  a  state  or  a  section  should  be  behind  any  such 
movement  for  the  general  good  of  newspaper  adver- 
tising.   What  a  wonderful  showing  the  state  of  Ohio 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      221 

could  make  if  its  newspapers  all  got  into  line  to  create 
trade  stimulation  through  newspaper  advertising! 

The  Wisconsin  League  is  weak  because  it  does  not 
include  the  Milwaukee  newspapers,  as  the  Ohio 
Select  List  is  because  it  does  not  include  the  daily 
newspapers  of  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  and  other  of  the 
larger  cities.  If  our  newspapers  are  ever  going  to 
come  into  their  own  they  must  sink  petty  differences 
and  all  boost  newspaper  advertising,  regardless  of 
whether  they  all  get  in  on  an  appropriation  or  not. 
It  is  absolutely  foolish  for  the  big  city  papers  to 
pretend  that  they  thoroughly  cover  territory  sup- 
porting local  dailies.  By  making  such  a  claim  they 
get  into  the  same  class  as  the  magazines  which  have 
claimed  that  they  cover  the  whole  country. 

The  general  advertiser,  situated  in  a  distant  city, 
is  greatly  handicapped  in  any  attempt  to  create  de- 
mand or  increased  sales  for  his  goods  through  news- 
paper advertising  in,  we  shall  say,  the  state  of  Texas, 
for  many  reasons,  which  must  be  clearly  understood 
to  be  appreciated. 

Newspaper  men,  thoroughly  conversant  with  local 
conditions  and  probably  representing  the  greatest 
power  in  the  various  communities,  little  realize  the 
difficulties  of  the  distant  manufacturer,  even  sup- 
posing he  is  willing  to  attempt  to  reconcile  several 
hundred  such  units  as  our  separate  newspapers  rep- 
resent into  a  national  campaign. 

In  the  first  place,  our  friend  the  manufacturer, 
who  has  not  the  capital  or  willingness  to  investigate 
conditions  in  each  community  that  we  represent,  is 
largely  dependent  upon  the  scant  and  unsatisfactory 
information  he  can  get  through  existing  conditions. 

I  have  traveled  over  one  million  miles  in  the  United 


222     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

States  and  Canada  during  the  last  ten  years,  visiting 
aU  of  the  larger  cities  and  many  small  towns,  calling 
on  newspapers  advertisers,  and  agencies,  and  feel 
that  I  am  quahfied  to  view  the  situation  from  the 
broadest  possible  standpoint. 

What  I  am  now  going  to  say  is  in  the  interest  of 
all  newspaper  advertising,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
urging  the  newspapers  of  the  various  states  to 
launch  campaigns  which  will  be  demonstrations  of 
lasting  effect  on  the  whole  newspaper  business  and 
bnng  direct  and  immediate  results  in  the  way  of  in- 
Some'"^''^''''^'  which  I  know  aU  most  earnestly  will 

We  will  take,  for  example,  the  state  of  Texas,  for 

many  reasons,  as  the  starting-point  of  such  a  cam- 
paign as  I  shall  outline.     Viewed  from  a  distance. 

lexas,  on  account  of  its  size  and  widely  scattered 
cities  must  ever  seem  a  most  bewildering  prospect 
tor  the  man  wishing  to  increase  his  sales  through 
direct  appeal  to  all  the  people. 

I  know  the  cities  and  the  people  and  want  to  show 
tne  lexas  pubhshers  how,  through  co-operative  effort, 
they  can  each  of  them  get  more  business  coming  to 
their  newspapers  than  in  any  other  way  that  I  have 
ever  seen  worked  out  or  presented  for  consideration. 

in  the  first  place,  the  state  is  rich  and  prosperous 
and  possesses  limitless  possibilities.  The  task  of 
properiy  presenting  the  appeal  of  Texas  to  the  general 
advertisers  of  the  country  is  beyond  the  commercial 
possibihties  of  any  single  newspaper  or  of  any  smaU 
group  of  newspapers. 

At  really  trifling  expense  per  paper,  they  can, 
through  the  organization  of  a  state  Daily  Newspaper 
Association,  in  which  every  daily  newspaper  in  the 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     223 

state  should  participate,  regardless  of  local  rivalries, 
produce  a  cohesive  force  that  will  be  wonderful  in  its 
productiveness  along  lines  I  shall  briefly  indicate. 

I  shall  not  attempt  more  than  to  outline  the  points 
which  my  investigations  of  advertising  conditions 
have  shown  me  are  most  desirable  for  the  purpose 
(through  intelligent  appeal  and  service)  of  securing 
a  larger  use  of  the  newspapers. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Texas  newspapers  should 
have  a  central  office,  preferably  in  Austin,  the  state 
capital.  Dallas,  or  some  other  centrally  located  city, 
with  a  paid  secretary  in  charge  to  gather  and  sum- 
marize the  information  secured  by  members  or  to  take 
charge  of  other  activities  which  we  shall  get  to  later  on. 

The  secretary  should,  by  correspondence  with  the 
members,  and  personal  investigation,  if  necessary, 
produce  a  set  of  loose-leaf  pages  which  will  reflect 
business  conditions  and  possibilities  of  every  town 
in  the  state,  with  maps  of  business  centers  and  lists 
of  reliable  dealers  in  practically  every  line  like 
Graphic  Commercial  Surveys,  as  described  in  News- 
paper Building,  page  236. 

Copies  of  all  these  data  should  be  kept  on  file 
for  the  use  of  prospective  advertisers  in  New  York 
and  Chicago,  and  perhaps  later  elsewhere,  and  copies 
of  the  whole  of  it  or  any  part  furnished  to  advertisers 
at  purely  nominal  rates. 

When  we  consider  that,  in  advance  of  any  state- 
wide campaign,  one  manufacturer,  say,  in  New  York, 
should  have  much  of  these  data  before  him.  and 
that  the  newspapers  can  give  him  for  a  few  dollars 
information  which  would  cost  him  thousands  of  dol- 
lars to  duplicate  and  months  of  labor  to  produce,  you 
will  realize  the  importance  of  this  service. 


I 


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224      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 
nf  ^iw?""  Commercial  Surveys  of  the  business  centers 

and  li^<f  .f'r  ^f  'T"'-  indicating  by  numerals 
and  signs  the  location  of  the  principal  dealers  in  the 

.^r^i-T-  ?   *'^*^^'  ^"^  P^'^'^^P^  later  on  shaded  to 

SrJ-    "k,     ^"r'^'°S  *°  ^^°*^  ^^ues,  would  be 
ot  inestimable  value. 

In  three  months'  time  these  basis  data  would  put 
Texas  at  the  head  and  forefront  of  all  the  states  in 

oalZTv  t'  ^  ^T^^^^  ^"^^  ^^^  experimental  cam- 
pa  gns  which  would  prove  the  wonderful  and  superior 
pulling  powers  of  the  newspapers. 

Through  the  organization  I  am  indicating,  each 
state  could  estabHsh  an  iron-clad  standard  of  adver- 
tising rates  which  every  one  would  soon  learn  were 
as  unalterable  and  substantial  as  the  Rock  of  Gib- 
raltar, and  cut  off  the  traffic  of  the  space-buying 
jugglers  among  them.  ^  ^ 

Each  state  could  establish  its  own  checking  bureau 
which,  under  bond,  could  furnish  advertisers'  reports 
as  to  insertions  and  positions  sold  at  extra  rates 
and  could,  through  the  organization  of  a  small  mat 
plant,  cut  out  much  of  the  expense  of  supplying  such 
matter  to  each  individual  paper  at  long  range. 

There  is  absolutely  no  doubt  in  my  mind  of  the 
success  of  such  a  plan  of  operations.  It  is  as  sound 
and  correct  m  principle  as  the  science  of  banking  or 
any  other  known  success.  There  is  not  an  "if"  about 
throu  h   ""^"^^^^^^^^  ^^^  ^"^^  ^^^  together  to  put  it 

Through  organization  of  similar  state  associations 
throughout  the  country,  all  hooked  up  together  in  six 
sectional  groupings  and  then  in  a  national  newspaper 
organization  which  would  be  effective  and  worth  while 
It  would  be  possible  to  double,  treble,  and  multiply  by 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      225 

a  dozen  times  the  present  volume  of  general  advertis- 
ing in  the  newspapers. 

Each  sectional  unit  of  representation  in  a  national 
organization  with,  say,  two  directors  from  each  state 
would  give  us  a  body  far  more  effective  than  the 
present  American  Newspaper  Publishers'  Association 
with  its  self-perpetuating  policies,  giving  control  to 
the  business  managers  of  a  few  big  city  papers.  Every 
subject  of  newspaper  interest  could  be  regulated  on 
a  basis  of  cost  fixed  on  average  circulation.  In 
Chapter  XLI  I  give  a  brief  outline  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  new  national  organization  that  should 
succeed  the  A.  N.  P.  A. 

The  newspapers,  by  reason  of  their  close  contact 
with  local  conditions  in  practically  every  city  in  the 
country,  could  (at  but  a  trifling  expense  to  themselves) 
jointly  produce  a  fund  of  direct  and  up-to-the-minute 
information  otherwise  unobtainable  except  at  a  pro- 
hibitive price. 

Advertising  is  fast  growing  out  of  the  experimental 
condition  in  which  it  has  existed  for  years.  It  is  for 
us  to  demonstrate  in  an  unmistakable  way  that  the 
strength  and  success  of  any  national  campaign  must 
depend  upon  its  influence  in  bringing  the  people  to 
local  shops  in  every  city  through  local  newspaper 
advertising. 

It  is  for  us  as  newspaper  publishers  to  try  to  make 
it  easier  for  the  prospective  advertiser  to  do  business 
with  us.  If,  by  a  slight  adjustment  in  our  rate  cards, 
we  can  make  it  easier  for  him  to  figure  a  combined 
rate  for  all  the  newspapers  in  a  state,  why  not  attempt 
to  provide  the  simple  general  rate  card? 

The  general  advertiser  very  naturally  objects  to 
paying  the  newspapers  twice  ^s  much  per  line  for 


?!  I 


226      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

space  as  his  local  agent,  and  we  have  all  heard  the 
arguments  of  the  large  agent  who  wishes  to  buy  bulk 
space  for  his  clients  on  the  same  basis  as  the  depart- 
ment stores.  ^ 

Of  course,  it  would  be  out  of  the  question  to  grant 

DoJtion  of  r  ''^Ki'''  ^^^  P^'  ^""y  ^^^^^y  i"  t^« 
position  of  bemg  able  to  quote  a  lower  rate  for  our 

space  to  a  single  advertiser  than  tha/t  provided  in  our 
rate  cards,  but  the  point  is  well  worth  considering  in 
the  development  of  state  associations. 

Let  Texas  or  any  other  state  show  the  way  and  sell 
advertising  as  a  commodity  alike  to  all  customers 
buymg  the  same  quantity  under  the  same  condi- 
tions.  We  are  doing  this  in  the  big  cities,  and  it  can 
be  done  with  big  profit  to  the  smaller  newspapers 
adverEs  ^'"^P^^"^^^'^"    ^   relations   with   general 

I  believe  that  the  newspapers  of  each  state  should 
as  an  organization,  decide  upon  a  uniform  basis  of 
discounts  for  various  amounts  of  space  and  seek  the 
greatest  possible  uniformity  and  simpHcity  regarding 
any  extra  charge  for  position,  which  should  be  riridlv 
lived  up  to  by  every  member. 

For  instance,  make  rates  for  one-time  business,  26 
times,  52  times,  etc.,  and  for  different  volumes  of 
open  space  to  be  used  in  one  year,  run  of  paper,  and 
say,  25  per  cent,  extra  for  next  following  reading  and 
50  per  cent,  next  and  alongside  reading,  or,  better 
still,  adopt  a  flat  rate. 

By  devoting  a  reasonable  degree  of  care  to  the 
make-up  it  wm  be  found  that  the  newspapers  can 
easily  take  sufficient  care  of  the  small  general  ads 
to  make  them  productive.     If  the  customer  wants  to 
buy  anythmg  special  as  a  "must,"  make  him  pay  for 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     227 

it  just  the  same  as  you  would  if  seeking  special  service 
an)nvhere. 

In  making  it  easier  for  the  general  advertiser  to 
do  business  with  us,  we  shall  find  that  it  will  simplify 
matters  very  much  if  we,  as  an  association,  rigidly 
live  up  to  the  Hteral  application  of  a  "no  free  reading 
notice"  rule.  Simply  cut  out  the  outrage  and  make 
the  advertiser  pay  for  everything  he  seeks,  just  the 
same  as  we  have  to. 

Our  friends  the  magazines  never  give  up  a  line  of 
free  space.  The  agents  realize  that  they  have  to 
pay  for  what  they  get  in  the  magazines,  and  endeavor 
to  work  the  newspapers  for  as  much  better  than  fifty- 
fifty  as  they  can  get.  Just  as  long  as  we  will  stand 
for  being  worked  they  will  try  to  work  us. 

We  have  it  in  our  power  entirely  to  eliminate  all 
waste  in  the  matter  of  a  general  advertiser  wishing 
to  build  up  or  stimulate  business  in  Texas.  No  gen- 
eral medium  can  compete  with  the  newspapers  as  a 
group.  The  newspapers  can  render  dependable  service 
and  information  quicker  than  any  other  instrumental- 
ity in  the  world. 

Through  the  sectional  organizations  I  suggest,  the 
newspapers  can  get  direct  audience  with  the  biggest 
manufacturers  in  the  country  to  submit  selling  plans 
and  invaluable  data.  You  can  dictate  your  own 
terms  and  conditions  to  the  buyer,  for  your  proposals 
will  be  of  sufficient  importance  to  make  any  man 
wishing  to  do  business  in  your  state  sit  up  and  take 
notice. 

The  average  manufacturer  has  not  the  time  or  the 
inclination  even  to  see  a  small  part  of  the  newspaper 
representatives  that  try  to  see  him.  He  can  see  but 
a  few  important  newspaper  publishers  in  the  course 


228      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


■    1 


of  a  year.  If  he  tried  to  see  them  all  he  could  do 
no  other  business.  He  must,  therefore,  of  necessity 
get  his  information  through  subordinates. 

Through  the  state  and  sectional  organization,  the 
newspapers  will  have  a  proposal  big  enough  and  im- 
portant enough  to  warrant  the  concentrated  atten- 
tion of  any  business  man  wishing  to  do  business  in 
your  state,  just  as  long  as  you  can  give  him  the  sort 
of  information  he  needs  in  his  business.  He  will 
grasp  the  efficiencies  of  your  service  and  do  what 
he  can  to  encourage  such  efforts  by  giving  you 
business. 

The  newspapers  should  be  determined  in  advance 
to  forget  personalities  and  local  feuds  in  trying  to 
get  business  to  come  to  their  state.  Fight  and  strug- 
gle as  they  wish  in  local  matters,  but  pull  together 
and  boost  all  Texas  newspaper  advertising  in  the 
full  confidence  that  eventually  some  part  of  all  ac- 
counts will  come  their  way. 

Texas  is  an  empire  in  itself.  Its  newspapers  hold 
the  key  to  the  situation.  They  must  jointly  exploit 
the  possibilities  of  their  field.  No  matter  how  strong 
any  one  of  them  is  in  its  own  community,  it  must 
recognize  that,  as  a  rule,  the  whole  state  must  be  con- 
sidered as  a  unit  by  the  general  advertiser. 


i  t 


NEWSPAPER   STATE   MAPS 

A  year  or  two  ago  an  idea  occurred  to  me  which  if 
carried  out  by  the  newspapers  would  do  much  to 
simplify  the  sale  of  newspaper  advertising,  by  visual- 
izing them  in  state  groups  in  convenient  form  for 
use  on  the  desks  of  all  space-buyers.  It  is  a  little 
thing  which  could  be  done  quite  effectively  by  the 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      229 

Bureau  of  Advertising  of  the  American  Newspaper 
Publishers'  Association  or  some  such  body. 

My  thought  was  to  make  a  series  of  maps  like  that 
of  Alabama  herewith,  merely  showing  the  towns  in 
which  daily  newspapers  are  published,  to  go  on  the 
left-hand  side  of  the  booklet,  with  the  statistical  form 
giving  details  as  to  the  population,  circulation,  etc., 
on  the  right-hand  side. 

The  booklet  should  be  of  the  loose-leaf  variety, 
printed  on  strong  quality  of  paper  and  space  left  at  the 
right-hand  edge  of  the  right-hand  page  for  the  space- 
buyer  to  jot  down  data  regarding  advertising  rates. 

Brought  together  in  a  neat  leather  cover,  newspaper 
maps  and  statistical  tables  covering  every  state  in 
the  Union  would  be  of  immense  value  to  men  seeking 
to  outline  a  national  campaign  in  the  newspapers, 
and  of  greater  use  to  help  him  convince  the  advertiser 
how  the  newspapers  cover  the  field  and  can  be  used 
in  exact  accord  with  distribution. 

Such  a  booklet  easily  folded  for  insertion  in  a  travel- 
ing-bag or  rolled  for  carrying  to  meetings  or  con- 
ferences would  save  much  lost  motion  in  making  up 
lists  for  various  campaigns. 

At  a  glance  the  buyer  or  seller  of  space  could  ascer- 
tain the  total  population  of  a  state  or  a  city,  ascer- 
tain the  number  of  families,  and  what  proportion  of 
them  can  be  reached  by  the  newspapers  and  at  what 
cost  per  reader  or  per  family. 

Until  the  newspapers  realize  that  they  each  of 
them  are  but  a  unit  in  a  big  national  medium,  which 
must  be  bought  and  sold  as  such  in  competition  with 
other  media  which  can  be  bought  much  more  con- 
veniently, they  will  never  get  the  share  of  foreign 
business  which  they  should  get. 


230     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


ALABAMA 

1010  pooulation . . . . 

2,138,093 

Circu- 

City 

Population 

Paper 

lation       Rate 

Anniston .... 

12,794 

♦Star  &  Hot  Blast 

•  •*•••           •••••• 

Bessemer. . . . 

10,864 

Free  Press 

•  •••••          •••••• 

Birmingham . 

132,685 

Age  Herald 
♦Ledger 

•  •••••          •••••• 

•  ••••■           •••••• 

♦News 

•  •••••          •••••• 

Dothan 

7,016 

♦Eagle 
♦News 

•  •••••          •••••• 

Enterprise. . . 

2,322 

Journal 

•  •••••          ■••••« 

Eufaula 

4,259 

Citizen 

•  •••••           •••••« 

Gadsden .... 

10,559 

♦Journal 
♦Times  News 

•  •••■•           •••■•• 

Himtsville . . . 

7,611 

♦Mercury 
Times 



Mobile 

51,521 

♦Item 
♦P.egister 



Montgomery. . 

38,136 

♦Advertiser 

♦Journal 

♦Times 

•  •••••           •••■■• 

New  Decatur. 

6,118 

Daily 

•   •••••           •>•••• 

Opelika 

4,734 

News 

•  •••..           ••.... 

Selma 

13,649 

♦Journal 
Times 



Sheffield 

4,865 

Daily 

•  •••••           •••■•• 

Talladega .... 

5,854 

Home 

•   •••••          •••••• 

Troy 

4,961 

Messenger 

*•••••          •••••• 

Tuscaloosa  . . . 

8,407 

News  &  Times  Gazette 

■   •••••           •••••• 

♦  Evening. 

SHEFFIELD 

NEW  DECATUR- 


•nUNTSVILLE 


.  GADSDEN 


-^ 


ANNISTON* 
BESSEMER    BIRMINGHAM      "pUtADECA. 

T 

'TUSCALOOSA 


OPELIKA.* 


T 


SELMA  • 


•  MOffrGOMERY" 


ENFAULA 


TROY 


ENTERPRISE. 


DOTHAN* 


Map  of  Alabama  Showing  Towns  in  Which  Newspapers  Are  Published. 
For  use  in  connection  with  data  on  page  230. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      231 

Aside  from  the  very  large  cities,  the  national  ad- 
vertiser seldom  has  time  or  inclination  to  take  up 
newspapers  as  single  units.  He  decides  to  cover  a 
state  or  a  section  of  the  country.  Before  he  starts  his 
advertising  he  arranges  his  distribution  and  other 
details.  Herein  lies  the  greatest  efficiency  of  news- 
paper advertising  to  him,  if  we  would  but  co-operate, 
which  we  do  not. 

Maps  and  statistics  such  as  I  am  here  proposing 
invite  the  distant  manufacturer  to  try  to  stimulate 
sales  or  create  new  sales.  It  is  the  sort  of  informa- 
tion which  he  desires  and  seldom  can  get  through 
existing  channels,  for  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
ascertain  the  data  are  not  assembled  in  as  easily  get- 
at-able  form. 

It  is  after  the  manufacturer  has  arranged  his  dis- 
tribution and  is  ready  to  contract  for  newspaper 
advertising  space  through  his  advertising  agent  that 
we  fall  down  and  fall  down  hard. 

The  very  strength  of  newspaper  advertising  is  that 
it  enables  the  advertiser  to  hook  up  his  copy  to  a 
local  dealer  or  local  dealers.  As  soon  as  he  starts 
to  do  this  too  many  of  our  newspapers  put  up  their 
"keep  off  the  grass"  sign  and  refuse  to  pay  the  agent 
a  commission  on  the  advertising  on  the  ground  that 
it  is  "local  business." 

A  well-known  agent  recently  told  me  that  three 
years  ago,  recognizing  the  superior  pulling  power  of 
the  newspapers  when  properly  linked  to  local  dealers, 
he  got  one  of  his  clients  to  take  $100,000  of  the 
$300,000  previously  spent  in  general  mediums  and 
try  newspapers. 

In  nearly  all  cases  the  foolish  newspapers  refused 
to  allow  him  a  commission  on  the  business,  and  he 


iffl 

■  r 


232      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

has  been  trying  to  get  the  business  back  into  the 
magazines  ever  since.  I  merely  cite  the  incident  as 
evidence  of  a  weakness  in  the  armor  of  the  news- 
papers and  one  of  the  reasons  why  rates  and  condi- 
tions regarding  local  and  foreign  advertising  should 
be  identical. 


XXXIX 


Map  Scheme  for  Selling  Extra  Space 


■ 


I 


i 


A  SCHEME  page  which  I  got  up  for  The  Chicago 
Inter-Ocean  in  June,  1898,  has  many  possibilities  for 
effective  use  by  newspaper  advertising  managers  to 
bring  in  extra  earnings  from  time  to  time.  The 
beauty  of  the  thing  is  that  it  provides  good  value  for 
the  advertiser  represented  in  it,  and  can  be  repeated 
as  a  seasonal  affair  in  many  cases. 

In  looking  ahead  to  see  what  figures  we  had  to 
beat  for  June,  1898,  I  discovered  a  special  number  in 
the  previous  year  sticking  up  like  a  sore  thumb,  and, 
not  having  any  desire  for  such  a  thing,  nor  time  to 
get  one  up  if  I  had,  I  conceived  the  idea  of  arranging 
for  a  full-page  map  of  Lake  Michigan  and  selling 
representation  on  it. 

I  was  a  comparative  stranger  in  Chicago.  I  knew 
there  were  many  boat  lines  going  across  the  lake  and 
up  the  west  shore  to  Milwaukee  and  other  points. 
The  steamship  lines  advertised,  but  the  whole  prop- 
osition of  lake  travel  was  a  mystery  to  me,  so  I 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  make  some  money 
visualizing  it. 

As  the  idea  developed  I  reduced  the  size  of  the  map 
to  permit  a  border  of  thirty-lines  space  across  the  top 
and  bottom,  and  similar  space  down  each  side,  for 


234      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  insertion  of  time-tables  of  the  transportation 
lines.  For  $50  we  would  give  a  steamship  line  one 
of  these  spaces  for  its  time  card  and  a  dotted  line 
on  the  surface  of  the  lake,  with  the  name  of  line  run- 
ning along  it. 

It  was  a  cinch  to  sell  each  of  the  lines  representa- 
tion. Then  I  thought  of  letting  them  run  a  picture 
of  one  of  their  boats  on  the  dotted  line  for  $25  more. 
Next  we  inserted  the  summer  resorts  along  the  lake 
and  put  in  the  railroads.  We  charged  the  railroads 
$50  each  for  a  space  for  their  time-tables  and  an- 
nouncements. 

In  order  to  make  the  thing  complete  we  then  in- 
serted the  names  of  hotels  and  boarding-houses  at  the 
resorts  for  $5  each,  and  inserted  outline  cuts  of  the 
hotels  for  $25  each.  After  we  published  the  page  in 
the  newspaper  I  had  several  thousand  copies  struck 
off  on  good  paper,  with  the  top  and  bottom  tinned, 
which  the  advertisers  were  glad  to  hang  in  their 
waiting-rooms  and  distribute  to  good  advantage. 
My  recollection  as  to  the  amount  of  money  we  got 
from  that  page  is  dim,  but  it  was  a  good  fat  sum,  and 
every  one  was  pleased. 

In  many  situations  the  same  basic  idea  can  be  ap- 
plied to  good  purpose.  Even  in  the  cities  the  use  of 
page  maps  for  the  purpose  of  visualizing  various  shop- 
ping centers,  theaters,  etc.,  offers  a  phase  of  new 
activity  for  the  alert  advertising  manager.  The  mere 
act  of  seeking  to  turn  up  new  ground  develops  an 
inquiring  state  of  mind  apt  to  develop  many  other 
relations  with  new  customers. 


i 


Map  of  Lake  Michigan,  Showing  How  It  Was  Used  for  Advertising 

Exploitation. 


XL 


m 


^•w 


1 1  m 


Building  Up  the  Classified 

Building  up  the  classified  advertising  columns  of  a 
newspaper  is  either  an  extremely  difficult  task  or  an 
easy  one,  according  to  the  way  in  which  we  approach 
the  subject.  I  have  watched  various  efforts  to  build 
classified  for  upward  of  thirty-five  years  in  New  York 
and  other  cities,  and  have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that, 
of  all  methods,  the  one  so  wonderfully  put  over  by 
Harry  Doorly  for  The  Omaha  World-Herald  seems 
most  direct  and  effective. 

Back  in  the  early  '8o's  The  New  York  Herald  owned 
the  classified  advertising  of  New  York,  and  was 
probably  the  leader  in  that  Hne  among  all  newspapers 
in  the  whole  world.  It  was  more  arbitrary  in  its  regu- 
lations than  any  of  our  present-day  newspapers  and 
demanded  rates  as  high  as  or  higher  than  are  now 
charged  by  any  newspaper.  Up  to  1883  there  had 
been  many  efforts  to  wrench  some  part  of  the  busi- 
ness from  The  Herald,  but  without  any  serious  result. 

In  1883  Joseph  PuHtzer,  who  had  just  bought  The 
New  York  World,  started  after  The  Herald  in  a  way 
it  had  never  been  tackled  before  regarding  both  dis- 
play and  classified,  which  put  him  ''over  the  top" 
in  fine  style.  In  Chapter  IV  of  Newspaper  Building 
I  briefly  outlined  the  methods  by  which  Pulitzer  pro- 


^•1 


>^H 


236      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

duced  the  marvelous  results  which  enabled  him  to 
pass  The  Herald  in  display  and  to  later  on  get  the 
classified  leadership. 

Limiting  ourselves  to  the  mutton  before  us — classi- 
fied— the  development  of  that  part  of  The  New  York 
World  to  its  present  magnificent  proportions  has  been 
produced  by  resort  to  every  forcing  device  known  to 
man.  Free  "wants"  for  a  time  filled  the  columns 
with  masses  of  trade  offerings  disguised  as  ** wants,'* 
and  plenteous  first-page  boxes  and  display  ads.  called 
attention  to  the  bargains  and  values  represented  in 
the  mass  of  small  ads. 

It  was  a  long,  hard  struggle  for  The  World  to  over- 
come the  dominating  position  of  The  Herald,  but  in 
twenty  years,  or  by  1903,  The  World  had  pulled  level, 
and  then  went  to  the  front,  notwithstanding  the  ad- 
ditional competition  of  Hearst  with  The  American 
struggling  valiantly  for  a  slice  of  the  business  and 
spending  tons  of  money  to  get  a  representation. 

I  seriously  doubt  whether  it  would  be  possible  for 
another  newspaper  now  to  cut  in  on  The  World, 
keeping  in  mind  the  masses  of  small  ads.  run  every 
day  and  Sunday  by  The  American  and  Evening 
Telegram. 

The  Telegram's  development  of  classified  represents 
a  freakish  achievement  starting  with  free  "exchange 
ads."  later  separated  into  groups  at  various  rates, 
and  then  refined  so  as  to  produce  a  higher  rate  from 
dealers  and  traders  than  from  private  individuals. 
It  was  a  rather  peculiar  and  wonderful  finding  of  a 
big  classified  following,  but  one  that  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  duplicate. 

By  a  more  labored  and  painstaking  process  The 
New  York  Times  has  now  developed  the  nucleus  of 


HARRY    DOORLY 

Business  manager  of  the  Omaha  World-Herald,  who  solved  the  problem  of  getting 

classified  advertising. 


.1 


mi 


r# 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING        237 

a  real  classified  department  at  very  handsome  rates 
without  spread-eagle  or  bombastic  methods.  Starting 
with  so-called  ''censored  wants,"  advertisements  from 
those  in  a  position  to  prove  their  reliability,  The  Times 
has  gradually  come  into  about  the  highest-grade  group 
of  small  ads.  ever  printed  in  a  New  York  newspaper. 
Unlike  most  other  newspapers,  The  Times  does  not 
seek  or  desire  want  ads.  which  do  not  represent  a 
service  to  the  substantial  sort  of  people  it  is  made 
to  please.  Questionable  rooming-houses,  fake  busi- 
ness opportunities,  and  the  cheaper  classes  of  stuff 
fining  most  other  classified  pages  do  not  get  into  The 
Times.  * 

In  Chicago,  The  Daily  News  on  week-days  and  The 
Tribune  on  Sundays  carry  the  volume  of  classified 
advertising,  and  have  done  so  for  years  without  any 
serious  intrusion  from  other  newspapers  spending  fort- 
unes to  break  in  and  offering  to  run  such  stuff  at 
from  one  to  two  and  a  half  cents  a  line. 

But  in  the  development  of  classified  advertising 
for  any  newspaper  the  plan  successfully  worked  out 
by  Harry  Doorly  for  The  Omaha  World-Herald,  as  I 
have  said,  seems  to  me  to  be  soundest  and  bound  to 
be  successful  to  a  degree  wherever  adhered  to. 

Based  on  the  theory  that  the  way  to  get  classified 
is  to  teach  your  readers  to  use  the  columns  of  their 
own  newspaper  as  an  exchange  for  commodities  and 
service,  all  that  is  needed  is  the  appropriation  of 
a  sufficient  volume  of  space  every  day  for  a  year  or 
more  to  get  your  readers  reading  classified  and  send- 
ing in  business. 

Harry  Doorly  had  been  up  against  the  usual  office 
experience  in  getting  in  office  ads.  for  any  particular 

feature.     Every  day  there  was  a  jam  the  office  ad 
18 


i 


'II 


238      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

was  crowded  out,  and  the  editors  generally  can  man- 
age to  be  in  a  hole  for  space  about  every  other  day. 

To  meet  this  situation  Doorly  got  a  stated  allow- 
ance of  half  a  column  of  space  every  day  for  one 
year  in  which  to  boost  classified.  The  space  was 
charged  to  the  classified  department  at  run  of  paper 
rates  as  a  promotional  item.  That  he  used  it  effec- 
tively and  got  results  is  proved  by  final  conclusions. 

Day  in  and  day  out  Doorly  kept  hammering  at  the 
readers  to  read  and  use  the  classified  columns  of  The 
World-Herald.  Small  ads.,  large  ads.,  and  readers 
were  used  to  such  purpose  that  within  a  year  the 
papef  had  more  than  doubled  the  volume  of  classified 
and  continued  to  grow  ever  since. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Associated  Newspapers  I  de- 
veloped the  matter  of  Doorly's  experience,  and  Lafe 
Young,  Jr.,  of  The  Des  Moines  Capital,  visited  Omaha 
to  mvestigate.  He  adopted  the  idea  and,  carrying  it 
through  consistently,  more  than  doubled  his  classified 
inside  a  year. 

The  plan  was  so  simple  and  effective  that  I  got 
Harry  Doorly  to  get  out  a  book  showing  sample  ads. 
and  various  forms  used,  guaranteeing  him  cost  of 
production.  Any  one  seriously  interested  may  get 
copies  of  this  book  from  Mr.  Doorly,  I  think,  at 
$20  per  copy,  if  it  is  not  out  of  print. 

Viewing  classified  in  the  light  of  broadest  experi- 
ence in  many  cities,  the  mistake  we  newspaper-men 
generally  make  is  in  putting  too  low  a  price  on  our 
space.  In  classified  the  cost  of  a  small  ad.  does  not 
mean  anything  to  the  advertiser  if  we  produce  re- 
sults. In  Chicago  in  1898  I  tried  to  sell  Inter-Ocean 
"want"  space  for  2  cents  a  line  against  The  Tribune's 
at  30  cents  a  line,  but  couldn't  keep  it  sold.    The  man 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     239 

who  paid  The  Tribune  90  cents  for  an  ad.  made  a 
profit,  while  the  man  we  got  to  use  The  Inter-Ocean 
for  6  cents  got  only  a  receipt  and  the  sight  of  his  adlet 
in  print. 

In  those  days  we  did  not  know  as  much  about  the 
"why"  of  the  advertising  business  as  we  do  to-day. 
Even  the  old  Inter-Ocean  could  have  been  made  to 
produce  some  results  had  we  known  "how"  to  educate 
our  readers  to  use  the  columns  of  their  newspaper  as 
a  medium  of  exchange. 

It  matters  not  how  little  circulation  a  newspaper 
has,  its  space  at  some  rate  can  be  made  profitable 
for  its  advertisers  if  its  regular  subscribers  are  brought 
to  understand  its  possibilities  and  learn  to  co-operate. 
Every  reader  of  a  newspaper  can  generally  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  friend  and  booster.  If  we  keep  after  him 
long  enough  he  will  gladly  take  the  hint  and  watch 
our  ads. 

In  the  seeking  of  classified  advertising,  aside  from 
that  coming  in  over  the  counter,  there  are  three  forms 
in  general  use: 

1.  Personal  solicitation. 

2.  Circulars. 

3.  By  telephone. 

Personal  solicitation  is  the  most  expensive  way, 
but,  under  the  direction  of  a  competent  manager, 
very  productive  for  many  lines.  Circularization  with 
a  coin-card,  similar  to  sample  on  page  240,  is  handled 
very  profitably  in  many  places,  while  solicitation  by 
telephone  has  been  found  most  effective  almost  wher- 
ever put  on  in  the  proper  way. 

Almost  any  contract  customer  of  the  telephone 
company  is  good  for  the  value  oi  a  classified  ad. 
If  he  does  not  pay  his  bill  within  two  weeks  he  is 


I 


240      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

listed  among  delinquents  and  not  accorded  further 
credit.  By  using  a  revolving  index  system  it  is  very 
easy  for  the  person  in  charge  almost  instantly  to  as- 
certain whether  the  prospect  is  good  or  doubtful. 

In  experience  it  has  been  found  that  less  than  5 
per  cent,  of  "want"  ads.  'phoned  in  are  not  paid  for. 
If  the  items  were  large  enough  to  be  worth  following 
up  by  collectors  the  percentage  of  loss  would  prob- 
ably be  much  lower. 

By  the  same  token,  it  has  been  found  that  it  is 
more  effective  merely  to  put  bad-pay  items  on  the 
index  and  forget  them  than  to  open  regular  accounts 
and  bother  with  labored  effort  to  collect  them. 

A  simple  method  for  handling  the  entering,  check- 
ing, and  bilHng  of  classified  advertising  is  as  follows: 


PLACE  COINS  IN  SPACES  PROVIDED 
FOR  THEM,  FOLD  PAPER  MONEY 
UNDER  FLAP  AND  MAIL  THIS  CARD 
TO  THE  GLOBE,  IN  THE  ENCLOSED 
ENVELOPE,  SECURELY  SEALED. 

THE  GLOBE 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     241 

Use  this  Form  to  advertise  your  lost  Bank  Book. 
THE  GLOBE 

73  DEY  ST. 

LOST— Bank  Book  No o^ 

Bowery  Savings  Bank,  130  Bowery,  New  York.     Finder  is  re- 
quested to  return  it  to  bank. 

If  not  restored  before 

application  will  be  made  for  new  book. 

This  ad.j  properly  filled  out,  will  cost  70  cents  in  The  Globe. 


ORIGINAL 


To  THE  GLOBE 

73-83  Dey  Street,  New  York  City 


New  York, 1917. 


Gentlemen:  Please  publish  all  death  and  memorial  notices 
that  we  may  be  able  to  send  to  you,  for  the  period  of  one 
year  from  this  date,  for  which  we  agree  to  pay  you  at  the 
rate  of  $1.00  for  the  first  three  lines  of  each  notice,  and 
Fifty  Cents  (see.)  for  each  additional  line. 

You  are  to  allow  us  as  commission  for  sending  such  notices 
to  you,  thirty-three  and  one-third  {zzYz)  per  cent,  of  the 
cost  of  such  notices,  provided  they  are  sent  directly  to  you 
and  not  through  any  advertising  agency. 

Accounts  are  payable  on  or  before  the  isth  day  of  the 
month  following  the  charge. 


I 


41 


242     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     243 


ij 


•I 


I 


To  THE  GLOBE 

73-83  Dey  Street,  New  York  City 


DUPLICATE 


New  York, 1917. 

Gentlemen:  Please  pubUsh  all  death  and  memorial  notices; 
that  we  may  be  able  to  send  to  you,  for  the  period  of  one  year 
from  this  date,  for  which  we  agree  to  pay  you  at  the  rate  of 
$1.00  for  the  first  three  lines  of  each  notice,  and  Fifty  Cents 
(50c.)  for  each  additional  line. 

You  are  to  allow  us  as  commission  for  sending  such  notices 
to  you,  thirty-three  and  one-third  (ssH)  per  cent,  of  the 
cost  of  such  notices,  provided  they  are  sent  directly  to  you 
and  not  through  any  advertising  agency. 

Accounts  are  payable  on  or  before  the  15th  day  of  the 
month  following  the  charge. 


Ad.  Received  by . 


Called  back 

for  number  of 
insertions  by . 


Supervisor's  Stamp  for 
Reading  and  O.  K. 


Checked  to 

Tel.  Directory  by 

Checked  for 
Credit  by 


for  reading  by . 


for  address  by 


if  rejected  by . 


Remarks: 


THE  GLOBE 


Telephone  Advertisement  Order  and  Charge  Ticket 


Teh  No Lines, 


Rate. 


Price , 


^^"^^ Ad.  Telephoned  by. 


^^^'^ OurCopy 


No. 


Dates  to  be  inserted, 


11 


m 


I 


ilii 


244      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

THE  GLOBE 

HELP  WANTED 
We  Can  Serve  You 


You  need  help. 

With  the  number  of  people  you  employ  it  is  natural  that  there 
should  be  many  changes  from  time  to  time. 

Every  change,  however,  costs  you  money. 

Therefore,  the  fewer  changes  you  have,  the  better  pleased  you 
will  be. 

The  quality  and  character  of  the  employe  has  much  to  do  with  the 
question  of  changes. 

If  you  can  secure  the  stable,  sober,  industrious  employe,  the  chances 
are  that  such  an  employe  will  be  Hkely  to  remain  with  you  permanently. 

Your  advertisement  for  HELP  WANTED  should  be  placed  in  a 
medium  which  reaches  the  class  of  people  you  want. 

The  New  York  Globe  is  such  a  medium. 

Hereafter,  when  you  need  help,  if  you  will  try  a  Globe  Want  Ad. 
you  will  be  more  than  pleased  with  results. 

A  Globe  Want  Ad.  is  the  stepping  stone  to  complete  satisfaction. 

Rates  are  low — 25  cents  a  line  for  a  single  insertion,  20  cents  a  Hnc 
for  three  or  more  insertions. 

If  you  want  the  enclosed  ad.  to  run  in  The  Globe,  just  fill  out  the 
blank  below,  tear  it  off,  and  mail  it  to  The  Globe.  The  ad.  will  be 
charged  to  you. 

THE  GLOBE 

THE  GLOBE  HAS  NO  SUNDAY  EDITION       Classified  Advertising  Dept. 


Globe  Want  Ads.  Produce  Results 


The  ad.  below  will  cost: 

1  time $. . 

3  times $ . . 


Additional  insertions  at  the  three  time 
rate. 


RATES:  25  cents  per  agate  line  (2 
line  minimum);  Three  or  more 
times,  20  cents  a  line.  4  words 
capital  letters.  (Six  average  words 
to  a  line.) 

The  Globe: 

New  York  City: 

Please  publish  this  ad.  for in- 
sertions for  which  I  enclose  f 

also  send  Free  copy  ot  The  Globe  show- 
ing ad. 

Yours  truly. 


Name. 


Address . 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      245 

THE  GLOBE 

IF   YOUR    OFFERING    IS    GOOD 
GLOBE  READERS  WILL  BUY  IT 


Whether  it  be  to  buy  or  sell,  to  lease  or  to  serve,  Globe  readers  are 
in  the  market  for  every  attractive  proposition. 

They  number  over  215,000  of  the  class  which  has  not  only  the  in- 
clinations but  also  the  means  to  secure  what  they  want. 

Why  not  address  this  offering  to  them?  You  cannot  reach  them 
except  through  The  Globe. 

No  paper  in  New  York  commands  the  home  attention  like  The 
Globe.  Its  Pure  Food  Campaign,  Dr.  Crane's  powerful  articles, 
its  Home  Garden  Hints,  its  Bedtime  Stories,  School  News  and  gen- 
eral conservative,  reliable  policy  have  served  to  establish  it  as  the 
strongest  newspaper  in  the  New  York  evening  field. 

Globe  Classified  Rates  are  as  follows: 

I  time  order,  25  cents  per  line      ^he  Globe  Has  No  Sunday  Edition 
6  time  order,  23  cents  per  line     —————— ^^———— 

24  time  order,  20  cents  per  line 

This  is  based  on  agate  type,  allowing  four  words  to  the  line  for 
capital  letters  and  six  words  to  the  line  for  small  letters. 

Trusting  to  be  favored  with  your  orders,  we  are 


Return  the  Attached  to  Us  To-day 


THE  GLOBE 

Classified  Advertising  Department 


Globe  Want  Ads.  Produce  Results 


The  ad.  below  will  cost: 

I  time I. . . 

6  times  a  week $ . . . 

24  times  a  month $ . . . 


RATES:  25  cents  per  agate  line  (2 
line  minimum);  six  times,  23  cents 
a  line;  twenty-four  times,  20  cents 
a  line.  (Six  average  words  to  a 
line  in  regular  type,  and  four  words 
to  a  line  in  agate  caps.) 

The  Globe: 

New  York  City: 

Please  publish  this  ad.  for in- 
sertions for  which  I  enclose  $ 

Yours  truly. 


Name. . 
Address . 


I 


, 


246      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

THE  GLOBE  Is  the  Great  Home  Paper 
YOURS  IS  A  HOME  APPEAL 
To  Sell  a  Farm 

Not  only  must  the  person  you  are  seeking  have  a  desire  to  live  in  the 

^^^^'l^^i^u^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^®  ^^°  ^^®  wherewith  to  gratify  that  desire. 

Ihe  (jlobe  opens  the  way  for  you  to  reach  over  200,000  who  have 
the  means  to  gratify  that  desire. 

No  paper  in  New  York  commands  the  home  attention  like  The 
Wobe.  Its  Pure  Food  Campaign,  Dr.  Crane's  powerful  articles. 
Its  Home  Garden  Hmts,  its  Bedtime  Stories,  School  News  and  gen- 
eral conservative,  rehable  policy  have  served  to  establish  it  as  the 
strongest  newspaper  in  the  New  York  evening  field. 

The  trend  to-day  is  toward  the  country.     The  increasing  cost  of 
local  apartments,  the  high  cost  of  food  and  other  commodities,  which 
a  city  residence  demands  to  a  higher  degree  than  does  country  Hving 
have  taught  the  New  Yorker  a  strong  lesson  in  the  advantage  of  goine 
back  to  the  farm.  &        &      5 

Your  message  to  be  profitable  must  be  directed  to  those  who  con- 
sider the  sohd  comforts  of  life,  the  healthy  up-bringing  of  their  chil- 
dren and  wholesome  living  for  themselves.     This  is  the  type  of  reader 
of  which  The  Globe  may  justly  boast.     Let  us  direct  your  story  to 
those  readers  who  read  the  Globe  regularly.     You  cannot  secure  their 
attention  through  any  other  paper. 
Globe  Classified  Rates  are  as  follows: 
I  time  order,  25  cents  per  line 
6  time  order,  23  cents  per  line 
24  time  order,  20  cents  per  line 
This  is  based  on  agate  type,  allowing  four  words  to  the  line  for 
capital  letters  and  six  words  to  the  line  for  small  letters. 
Trusting  to  be  favored  with  your  orders,  we  are 

THE  GLOBE 

Return  the  Attached  to  Us  To-day  Classified  Advertising  Department 


The  Globe  Has  No  Sunday  Edition 


Country  Real  Estate— Globe  Want  Ads  Produce  Results 

The  ad.  below  will  cost: 

I  time $ 

6  times  a  week $ 


24  times  a  month $. 


RATES:  25  cents  per  agate  line  (2 
line  minimum) ;  six  times,  23  cents 
a  line;  twenty-four  times,  20  cents 
a  line.  (Six  average  words  to  a  line 
in  regular  type,  and  four  words  to  a 
line  in  agate  caps.) 


The  Globe: 

New  York  City: 

Please  publish  this  ad.  for in- 
sertions for  which  I  enclose  $ 

Yours  truly, 


Name. 


Address . 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     247 

To  check  up  the  results  obtained  by  various  methods 
the  following  plans  are  employed:  Each  solicitor 
reports  nightly  his  returns.  These  are  entered  on  a 
daily  sheet  on  which  is  also  recorded  the  total  business 
brought  in  and  business  appearing  in  the  paper  on 
that  day.  Credit  is  given  for  telephone  advertise- 
ments to  the  individual  who  has  originated  the  ad- 
vertisement and  had  it  confirmed  by  call-back. 

The  daily  record  of  solicitor's  business,  telephone 
calls,  and  results,  number  of  circulars  sent  out  and 
received,  as  well  as  total  business  brought  in  and 
business  in  paper,  serves  as  an  automatic  check  and 
helps  determine  which  form  of  business-getting  is  the 
most  productive. 

Circulars  and  advertisements  placed  in  the  office 
come  under  the  head  of  office  business. 

The  separate  advertisements  of  the  day  are  entered 
on  sheets  like  that  marked  Form  A.  The  carbon  record 
remains  in  the  classified  department.  The  sheet  is 
then  forwarded  to  bill  clerk,  who  detaches  under 
sheet  containing  advertisement,  retaining  top  sheet 
with  records  and  text  of  advertising.  On  the  under 
sheet  instructions  are  recorded  for  the  benefit  of  the 
composing-room. 

The  column  is  checked  daily  by  the  billing  depart- 
ment to  prove  publication.  The  further  process  is 
as  follows:  For  short-time  orders  paid  direct  by 
advertisers  record  is  kept  only  on  classified  journal. 
Bills  in  duplicate  are  made  out  immediately  for  charge 
advertisements;  bill  is  forwarded  at  once,  duplicate 
is  held  for  two  weeks  and  then  marked  for  collection. 
Time  advertisements  charged  to  agents  follow  the 
same  course  as  display  advertising. 

In  addition  to  the  checking  done  by  the  billing 


i  I 


248      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

department,  a  card  is  made  out  in  the  classified  de- 
partment marked  for  every  day  on  which  the  ad.  is 
to  run.  The  column  is  checked  up  each  day,  and  yes- 
terday's insertions  are  circled  on  the  card.  This  not 
only  serves  as  a  check  in  this  department,  but  also 
helps  as  a  tickler,  as  memorandum  is  given  out  for 
renewal  several  days  before  the  expiration  of  the  ad. 

This  method  of  handling  classified  advertising  is  as 
economical  and  accurate  as  can  be  appHed  where  the 
volume  of  business  is  not  excessive.    However,  where 
classified  advertising  reaches  great  proportions,  the 
loose-leaf  method  is  more  desirable.     The  process  is 
about  like  this:   The  advertisements  brought  in  for 
insertion  and  not  identified  as  regular  or  known  ac- 
counts are  entered  on  a  loose  sheet  properly  divided 
as  to  classifications.     Bill  for  the  whole  amount  is 
rendered  at  once.    These  sheets  are  allowed  to  grow 
during  the  month,  and  as  payments  are  effected  ac- 
counts are  checked  off.     At  the  end  of  the  month 
these  sheets  are  handed  over  to  the  collection  de- 
partment.    Whatever  the  collection  condition  may 
be  after  allowing  a  month  to  effect  it,  this  sheet  is 
then  disposed  of  and  the  loss  written  off  and  swallowed 
in  the  great  volume  of  business.     Of  course  a  record 
is  kept  of  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  delinquents, 
so  the  paper  need  not  be  caught  more  than  once  by 
the  same  offender. 

The  Telegram  follows  a  system  practically  the  same 
as  this,  and  believes  it  cheap.  Certainly  records 
and  collections  in  great  numbers  representing  small 
amounts  can  eat  greatly  into  the  profits  of  classified 
advertising. 

As  a  medium  between  the  small  volume  of  business 
carried  and  the  large  amount  of  advertising,  as  men- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     249 

tioned  in  the  latter  instance,  a  good  staff  of  quality 
rather  than  quantity  soliciting  advertisements,  and 
effecting  payments  on  the  repeated  call  is  desirable. 
This,  of  course,  to  be  backed  up  by  strong  circular 
advertising  and  an  equitable  commission  arrange- 
ment with  estabHshed  agents.  Regarding  the  last 
item,  it  is  cheaper  in  the  end  to  figure  the  cost  of 
maintaining  soHcitors  and  the  uncertainty  of  their 
securing  the  business.  It  will  then  be  seen  that  a 
portion  of  this  expenditure  extended  to  the  agents 
as  a  commission  will  go  much  farther  in  securing  the 
business  than  the  same  amount  of  money  invested 
in  mediocre  solicitors. 

Furthermore,  in  this  city  at  least,  it  is  an  axiom 
that  if  a  classified  account  is  worth  cultivating,  it  is 
already  in  the  hands  of  seme  agent,  and  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  remainder  is  likely  to  be  poor  credit. 

As  to  the  development  of  classified  advertising,  of 
course  not  all  the  work  should  be  left  to  the  agent, 
but  a  small,  well-equipped  and  well-paid  staff  will 
take  care  of  the  necessary  promotional  work.  It  is 
also  well  to  confine  solicitors  to  certain  classifications. 
They  acquire  a  knowledge  that  helps  business  and 
collections. 

Attached  herewith  are  solicitation  forms  covering 
General  for  Sale,  Farms  for  Sale,  and  Help  Wanted. 
There  is  also  included  the  form  and  coin-card  for 
Lost  Bank-book  advertising,  which  is  worked  in  con- 
junction with  the  banks.  A  contract  form  is  also 
included,  showing  arrangement  to  be  entered  into 
with  large  undertakers  and  burial  establishments. 


i 


i 


3H 


XLI 


Plan  for  National  Newspaper  Organization 

So  far  as  practical  results  go,  my  experimentation 
with  plans  for  the  development  of  more  advertising 
for  the  newspapers  has  proved  to  me  that  if  the  news- 
papers would  only  get  together  in  some  big,  worth- 
while, and  effective  national  co-operative  body,  they 
could  secure  amazing  achievements. 

The  idea  back  of  my  "Advertising  the  Advertiser" 
movement,  crystallized  later  into  the  United  News- 
papers and  later  into  the  Bureau  of  Advertising  of 
the  A.  N.  P.  A.,  accompHshed  something  definite,  and 
my  agitation  for  increased  efficiency  of  the  old  A.  A.  A. 
at  Syracuse  in  19 13,  by  the  help  of  the  organization  of 
the  Gilt  Edge  Newspapers,  made  the  present  Audit 
Bureau  of  Circulations. 

During  all  this  time  I  tried  to  get  the  American 
Newspaper  Publishers'  Association  to  become  a  real 
organization,  representative  of  all  the  daily  news- 
papers of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  But  the  old 
guard  of  the  A.  N.  P.  A.  remained  wedded  to  its  old 
inactive  poHcy,  firmly  convinced  that  it  had  little 
interest  in  the  small  newspapers. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  time  is  now  ripe  for  the 
newspapers  of  the  country  as  a  whole  to  organize 
a  new  body  which  will   take   over   the   place   the 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      251 

A.  N.  P.  A.  pretends  to  occupy,  and  put  the  news- 
paper business  where  it  should  be.  I  was  a  director 
of  the  A.  N.  P.  A.  for  five  years  and  resigned  in  191 8 
because  I  had  grown  to  feel  the  hopelessness  of  get- 
ting it  out  of  the  mutual-admiration  class. 

I  am  firmly  convinced  that  the  basis  of  an  effec- 
tive newspaper  organization  must  be  the  state  unit, 
expanded  into  sectional  groupings,  and  then  a  na- 
tional body  built  up  on  strictly  democratic  principles. 
This  can  be  done  and  the  whole  enterprise  operated 
with  much  more  effective  service  to  all  classes  of 
members  than  by  leaving  affairs  to  the  control  of  the 
business  managers  of  a  few  big  city  newspapers,  as 
in  the  past  in  the  A.  N.  P.  A. 

A  rough  outline  of  a  plan  I  should  like  to  see  tried 
out  is  that  presented  by  me  in  the  shape  of  a  circular 
to  all  the  newspapers  of  the  United  States  in  June, 
1 91 8,  as  follows: 

Suggested   Plan   for   Strong   Sectional   News- 
paper Organization 


THE 


DAILY  PRESS  ASSOCIATION 


Which,  in  Combination  with  Other  Sec- 
tional Associations,  Would  Produce  a 
National  Newspaper  Organization  Really 
Representative  of  the  Newspaper-making 
Industry. 

Office  New  York  Globe, 

73  Dey  Street,  New  York,  June  6,  1918. 

To  the  Daily  Newspaper  Publishers  of  America:  Gentlemen,— 

Filled  with  a  confidence  that  the  group  of  newspapers  represented 

in  the  various  state  or  sectional  organizations  have  it  within  their 

power  to  develop  the  degree  and  kind  of  constructive  co-operative 


r 


m 


II 


252      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

effort  I  have  been  trying  to  make  effective  among  all  the  news- 
papers of  the  United  States,  I  am  taking  the  Hberty  of  brieflv 
outhmng  a  program  for  your  earnest  and  serious  consideration 
I  may  say  m  advance  that  I  feel  deeply  honored  in  being  elected 
an  Honorary  Member  of  the  Inland  Press  Association,  and  take 
this  opportumty  for  assuring  the  newspapers  of  the  country  of  mv 
willingness  to  work  with  them  and  for  them  in  making  their  or- 
naWrb^"'''''^  effective  and  working  units  in  a  big,  efficient, 

You  represent  a  field  most  attractive  and  profitable  to  the 
ni^nufacturer  wishing  to  expand  his  business  through  newspaper 
advertising.  Your  newspapers  cover  this  vast  field  in  a  way  to 
wonderfully  lend  their  use,  and  informatory  and  co-operative 
facilities  m  accordance  with  the  possibilities  of  ahnost  any  cam- 
paign. ^ 

I  say  these  things  not  for  the  purpose  of  pleasing  you,  but  to 
set  up  the  case  for  you  from  the  standpoint  of  an  outside  observer 
of  wide  expenence  m  the  study  of  such  situations.  All  that  you 
lack  is  orgamzation  and  the  practice  of  a  sound  degree  of  co- 
operative  purpose  correctly  developed  and  carried  out 

For  some  reason  or  other  the  newspaper  business  develops  a 
degree  of  destructive  competition  which  in  the  past  has  prevented 
us  getting  together  for  maximum  results,  and  permitted  other 
types  ot  mediun^  to  reach  in  and  get  many  millions  of  dollars 
of  advertising  which,  if  expended  in  our  columns,  would  have 
produced  much  more  satisfactory  returns  to  the  advertiser 

In  my  opmion,  the  state  unit  is  best  calculated  as  the  basis  for 
sectional  or  national  organization.  Each  state  may  have  its  own 
problems,  legislation,  legal  or  otherwise,  so  it  is  desirable  to  take 
advantage  of  existing  state  organizations  in  building  our  edifice 
or  to  get  the  newspapers  in  each  state  to  build  up  such  an  or- 
gamzation. ^ 

^  In  the  Central  Division,  covered  by  your  Inland  Press  Asso- 
^ation,  with  Its  thirteen  states,  for  example,  it  seems  to  me  to 
^  ^IT^T  A    ^^^^f^^h  f^t^  to  elect  its  own  representative 

to  lS  1  ^  .  ^T*^''  °^  *^"  ^^^^^^^"  ^y^  ^'ith  the  officers 
to  be  elected  from  this  group  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  sec- 
tional  body. 

Each  state  organization  should  be  constructed  on  exactly  the 
same  plan  as  the  sectional  body,  with  the  same  committees,  hav- 
ing the  same  functions,  the  chairman  of  each  state  committee 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     253 

becoming  automatically  a  member  of  the  Inland  Press  Association 
committee  of  the  same  name,  each  sectional  committee  to  elect  its 
own  sectional  chairman. 

Organized  in  this  way,  the  next  step  in  development — ^a 
national  body — may  be  developed  in  the  same  way,  with  each 
chairman  of  the  various  sectional  committees  becoming  a  member 
of  the  national  committee  of  the  same  name  and  performing  the 
same  functions. 

For  the  purpose  of  visualizing  the  proposed  organization  I 
have  prepared  the  chart.  In  the  state  organizations  each  of  the 
committees  could  consist  of  five  members,  elected  at  the  annual 
state  meetings.    Otherwise  the  operations  are  identical. 

The  divisional  groups  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  with 
plans  for  sectional  meetings  suggested  are  as  follows: 

Eastern  Division. — Comprising  the  states  of  Maine,  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  District  of 
Columbia,  Delaware  and  West  Virginia,  with  meetings  at  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington,  Providence,  Hartford, 
Springfield,  New  Haven,  or  Trenton. 

Central  Division. — Comprising  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Kan- 
sas, Nebraska,  South  Dakota,  North  Dakota,  and  Oklahoma,  with 
meetings  at  Chicago,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City, 
Columbus,  Milwaukee,  Indianapolis,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  or 
Des  Moines. 

Western  Division. — Comprising  the  states  of  Wyoming,  Colo- 
rado, Montana,  Idaho,  Nevada,  Utah,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona, 
with  meetings  at  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City,  Reno,  Boise,  Albuquer- 
que, or  Phoenix. 

Pacific  Division. — Comprising  the  states  of  California,  Oregon, 
and  Washington,  with  meetings  at  San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles, 
Portland,  Seattle,  Tacoma,  Spokane,  or  Sacramento. 

Southern  Division. — Comprising  the  states  of  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Tennessee, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  and  Kentucky,  with 
meetings  at  New  Orleans,  Atlanta,  Birmingham,  Richmond, 
Houston,  Dallas,  Little  Rock,  Oklahoma  City,  Charleston,  Jack- 
sonville, Louisville,  Nashville,  or  Chattanooga. 

Canadian  Division. — The  whole  of  Canada,  with  meetings  at 
Montreal,  Ottawa,  Toronto,  Winnipeg,  or  Vancouver. 


254      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 


Chart   Showing   Proposed   Sectional    Organization 


BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS 

1  Elected  by  Each  of  the  States 

PRESIDENT  and  VICE-PRESIDENT 

Elected  at  Annual  Meeting  From 
Directors  Elected  in  States 


SECRETARY  and  TREASURER 

Elected  at  Annual  Meeting 

■ 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

5  Directors  Elected  at  Annual  Meeting 

FINANCE        LEGISLATIVE  POST-OFFICE  LABOR 

COMMITTEE     COMMITTEE    COMMITTEE     COMMITTEE 

1  From  Each  State     1  From  Each  State     1  From  Each  State     1  From  Each  State 


ADVERTISING         EFFICIENCY  PAPER 

COMMITTEE  COMMITTEE  COMMITTEE 

1  From  Each  State  1  From  Each  State  1  From  Each  State 


MACHINERY 
COMMITTEE 

/  From  Each  State 


MEMBERSHIP 
COMMITTEE 

1  From  Each  State 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     255 

Divided  into  natural  groupings  the  states  with   number  of 
daily  newspapers  and  populations  would  be  like  this: 


Eastern     Div 

ision    . 

.     679  newspapers    31,041,042  po 

pula1 

Central 

•     776            "           33,343,247 

(( 

Southern 

.     388            "            26,272,735 

€( 

Western 

•     122            "             2,633,517 

U 

Pacific 

•     240            "             4,948,999 

U 

Canadian 

.     139            "             8,000,000 

it 

Total 

.2,562                       106,239,540 

FUNCTIONS  OF  COMMITTEES 

EXECUTIVE.— To  be  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  official 
headquarters  staff;  to  transact  business  between  meetings  of  the 
full  board;  to  hold  mail  votes  when  desired,  and  to  be  an  emer- 
gency body  that  can  quickly  be  brought  together. 

FINANCE  COMMITTEE.— To  make  budgets  and  levy  assess- 
ments with  the  approval  of  the  Board  of  Directors;  to  formulate 
plans  for  financing  any  special  efforts  or  activities;  to  audit  and 
check  the  accoimts  of  the  treasurer  or  treasurers  of  state  organi- 
zations. 

LEGISLATIVE  COMMITTEE.— To  keep  track  of  attempts 
at  adverse  legislation  in  the  states  or  at  Washington;  to  work 
in  conjunction  with  similar  committees  from  other  sectional  or- 
ganizations; to  be  represented  at  Washington,  or  wherever  needed, 
to  protect  the  best  interests  of  the  newspapers. 

POST-OFFICE  COMMITTEE.— To  specifically  watch  and 
keep  infonned  regarding  postal  services;  to  work  with  the  legis- 
lative Committee  when  required;  to  gather  data  regarding  post- 
office  carrying  costs,  and  to  secure  best  service  for  members. 

LABOR  COMMITTEE.— To  act  as  clearing  house  for  labor 
disputes  between  members  and  labor  unions ;  to  codify  best  prac- 
tices and  forms  of  contracts;  to  establish  more  harmonious  re- 
lations with  the  unions;    to  employ  paid  manager  if  necessary. 

ADVERTISING  COMMITTEE.— To  handle  and  carry  out 
various  plans  for  the  development  of  new  advertising  for  the 
newspapers;  to  pass  on  the  recognition  of  agents;  to  produce 
greater  harmony  between  the  newspapers  and  agents;  to  estab- 


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2S6     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

lish  standard  rate  card;  to  publish  bulletins  and  information  to 
members,  and  to  employ  a  paid  manager  if  necessary. 

EFFICIENCY  COMMITTEE.-To  work  out  for  the  benefit 
of  all  members,  through  the  interchange  of  information  collected 
from  members,  best  practices  in  newspaper  efficiency;  to  produce 
accurate  and  simple  cost-fmding  data;  to  ascertain  and  promul- 
gate best  office  systems  for  various  groups  of  members;  to  engage 
experts  as  necessary  to  install  systems  for  members. 

PAPER  COMMITTEE.— To  handle  all  the  various  angles  of 
the  print  paper  situation;  to  carry  out  bulk  purchases  if  desired; 
to  produce  greater  harmony  between  print  paper  manufacturers 
and  newspaper  publishers;  to  gather  statistics  and  protect  mem- 
bers from  unfair  treatment  by  manufacturers;  to  employ  a  paid 
manager  if  necessary. 

MEETINGS  COMMITTEE.-To  handle  the  details  of  all 
meetmgs;  arrange  programs;  invite  speakers;  to  arrange  de- 
partmental conferences  for  the  purpose  of  giving  members  best 
and  most  authoritative  information  on  all  phases  of  newspaper 
making,  and  thus  make  the  meetings  most  profitable  to  attend. 

MEMBERSHIP  COMMITTEE.— To  work  untiringly  until 
every  daily  newspaper  in  the  territory  is  enrolled  in  the  member- 
ship, both  for  what  its  co-operation  will  mean  to  the  Inland  Press 
Association  and  for  the  great  benefits  it  will  be  to  the  new  member. 

SUGGESTION  REGARDING   DUES  AND  ASSESSMENTS 

Inasmuch  as  both  a  state  and  sectional  organization  must  be 
maintained,  I  suggest  a  nominal  basis  of  dues— say  $io  per  year- 
one  half  of  which  will  go  back  to  the  state  body  and  the  other  half 
remain  in  the  treasury  of  the  sectional  body. 

I  suggest  that  all  additional  money  required  be  raised  by 
assessments  based  on  post-office  circulation  statements.  This  will 
work  in  absolute  fairness  to  all  and  can  never  be  burdensome  to 
even  the  weakest  member,  which  will  receive  inspiration  and 
direction  how  to  make  up  many  times  what  the  service  will  cost. 

Later  on,  as  a  national  organization  is  perfected,  to  be  operated 
on  the  same  basis,  the  pro-rating  of  expenses  can  be  made  by  very 
equitable  increases  to  all  classes  of  members,  with  the  larger  news- 
papers carrying  the  heavier  expense,  which  they  should  by  reason 
of  their  higher  advertising  rates  and  greater  earning  possibilities. 

I  have  estimated  that  in  a  national  plan  organized  on  this 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     257 

basis  the  dues  and  assessments  to  a  newspaper  like  The  New  York 
Globe  with  200,000  circulation  might  become  $5,200  a  year  as 
against  $2,700  during  19 18,  but  that  the  total  cost  to  the  smaller 
newspapers  would  be  less  than  A.  N.  P.  A.  membership  at  present. 

DEPARTMENTAL  CONFERENCES 

It  is  suggested,  as  a  relief  from  the  purposeless  and  uninterest- 
ing, long-drawn-out  meetings  where  everybody  feels  that  his 
time  has  been  wasted,  like  those  of  the  A.  N.  P.  A.  and  others 
which  I  have  attended,  that  the  committees  in  charge  arrange 
definite  programs  through  which  those  in  attendance  can  work 
out  a  plan  of  attendance  to  enable  them  to  go  home  with  greatest 
amount  of  information  on  subjects  of  especial  interest  to  them. 
For  example: 

1.  First  forenoon  or  few  hours  to  be  given  to  reports  of  officers 
and  committees  and  election  of  new  officers. 

2.  First  afternoon,  three  departmental  conferences  with  ex- 
perts to  deliver  carefully  prepared  addresses  and  to  answer  ques- 
tions— for  instance: 

2  to  3  P.M. — Circulation  problems. 
I   3  to  4  P.M. — Print  paper  and  paper  economies. 
4  to  5  P.M. — ^Relations  with  advertising  agents. 

3.  Second  morning: 

10  to  1 1 — Development,  increased  volume  local  advertising. 

11  to  12 — Consideration  of  advertising  rates. 

12  to     I — Press-room  production  and  efficiencies. 

4.  Second  afternoon: 

2  to  3 — Office  systems  and  efficiencies. 

3  to  4 — Co-operative  effort  for  new  national  advertising. 

4  to  5 — Proportion  of  news  and  advertising. 

5.  Third  morning: 

10  to  II — Intensifying  readers'  interest  in  advertising. 

11  to  12 — ^Two  speeches  by  well-known  advertising  agents. 

12  to    I — ^Two  speeches  by  well-known  advertisers. 

6.  Third  afternoon: 

2  to  3 — ^Adoption  of  resolutions  proposed  by  committees. 

3  to  4 — Consideration  of  new  activities  for  coming  year. 

4  to  5 — Speeches  from  well-known  publishers,  urging  all 

to  get  together  to  boost  newspaper  advertising. 
If  desirable,  any  of  the  departmentals  can  be  extended  beyond 


m 


258      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  hour  each,  and  several  departmentals  could  be  held  simul- 
taneously in  different  rooms,  so  as  to  produce  the  greatest  possi- 
ble fund  of  information  for  those  in  attendance. 

The  preparation  of  briefs  and  pamphlets  embodying  the  points 
brought  out  distributed  at  departmental  conferences,  and  later 
in  buUetms,  would  make  membership  not  only  worth  more  than 
it  costs,  but  indispensable  to  any  newspaper. 

For  example,  to  have  Harry  Doorly, of  The  Omaha  World-Herald, 
talk  half  an  hour  regarding  the  development  of  classified  and 
answer  questions  for  another  half-hour  and  distribute  the  forms 
he  uses,  would  well  repay  a  trip  to  New  York. 

To  have  Victor  F.  Lawson,  of  The  Chicago  Daily  News,  tell  of 
his  early  experiences  and  the  success  of  The  Daily  News  and' answer 
questions,  would  be  worth  many  times  the  cost  of  membership 
for  a  year  and  the  trouble  and  expense  of  a  trip  to  New  York. 
Such  a  program  would  stand  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
.  kmdergarten  effect  produced  in  the  A.  N.  P.  A.  on  hand-picked 
purposeless  topics,  of  which  less  than  lo  per  cent,  are  ever  reached. 

RELATIONS  WITH  AGENTS 

I  am  positive  that  through  such  an  organization  the  newspapers 
could  produce  a  working  relationship  with  the  advertising  agencies 
which  would  be  productive  of  largely  increased  business  for  the 
newspapers. 

1.  We  could  protect  reputable  agencies  from  the  damaging 
competition  of  irresponsible  adventurers  through  co-operation 
and  recognition. 

2.  We  could  functionate  our  service  activities  through  the 
agents  who  co-operate  with  us. 

3.  We  could  regulate  the  degree  and  scope  of  service  to  be 
asked  of  or  given  by  our  newspapers. 

4.  We  could  eliminate  many  expensive  and  annoying  practices 
on  the  part  of  agents  inclined  to  seek  something  plus. 

5.  We  could  do  more  effective  service  for  the  advertiser  with 
the  co-operation  of  the  agent  than  if  we  attempted  the  same 
thmgs  with  the  agent  trying  to  beUttle  our  activities  in  order  to 
intensify  his  service  to  his  client. 

6.  We  could,  through  the  co-ordination  of  local  effort,  reduce 
duplication  of  expense  at  present  attempted  by  various  news- 
papers as  individual  stunts. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      259 

So  long  as  the  agent  is  viewed  by  many  as  a  sort  of  a  parasite 
on  advertising  and  a  needless  expense  there  can  be  no  satisfactory 
relation.  We  must  learn  that  our  gross  rate,  less  agent's  com- 
mission, is  otu"  net  rate,  and  to  enter  all  business  as  net  so  as  to 
eliminate  the  item  ''commissions"  as  an  expense. 

We  must  learn  that  the  agent  performs  a  function  for  the 
advertiser  which  none  of  our  newspapers  is  in  a  position  to  render 
as  a  continuous  facility,  and  that  the  commission  is  finally  paid 
by  the  advertiser,  even  though  we  make  ourselves  believe  through 
defective  bookkeeping  that  we  pay  it. 

Through  an  advertising  committee,  properly  selected,  or  a 
sub-committee  on  recognition  we  can  iron  out  many  of  the  past 
troubles  of  the  agents,  and  compel  irresponsible  upstarts  to  clear 
through  responsible  agents,  the  same  as  is  done  in  other  lines  of 
business. 

In  protecting  the  agent  and  trying  to  make  it  easier  and  more 
profitable  to  sell  the  commodity  we  manufacture  it  is  obvious  that 
we  will  secure  a  much  larger  part  of  the  appropriations  he  handles. 

STATE  ASSOCIATIONS 

Through  the  state  associations  working  harmoniously  through 
sectional  headquarters  and  thence  to  national  headquarters  with 
branches  in  several  advertising  centers  all  of  our  newspapers  can 
be  sold  more  effectively  to  national  advertisers. 

Instead  of  national  advertising  amounting  to  between  15  and 
20  per  cent,  of  our  total  business  it  should  be  worked  up  to  at 
least  50  per  cent,  of  the  total  if  we  could  but  pull  together  and 
really  co-operate  through  some  such  plan  as  I  have  indicated. 

Every  manufacturer  in  the  country  is  a  good  advertising  pros- 
pect if  properly  approached.  Every  newspaper  in  the  country  is 
a  good  advertising  medium  at  a  certain  rate  if  properly  used. 
Variations  in  cost  of  production  at  different  points  and  differences 
in  ability  to  produce  the  newspapers  efficiently  make  radical  in- 
equalities in  rates. 

Through  our  state  associations,  sectional  organizations  and  the 
national  organization  it  seems  logical  that  newspaper  publishers 
will  be  made  more  effective  business  men  and  able  to  sell  advertis- 
ing which  will  produce  results  at  a  profit  to  themselves. 

The  advertiser  and  the  advertising  agent  agree  that  these  con- 
ditions must  be  met,  if  the  fabric  known  as  newspaper  advertising 


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260     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

is  to  endure.  Known  circulation  and  one  rate  to  all,  with  con- 
structive co-operation  all  along  the  Hne  and  the  elimination  of 
petty  local  jealousies,  will  work  wonders. 

In  the  state  associations  much  of  the  rivakies  between  com- 
peting pubhshers  can  be  overcome.    Each  member  must  seek 
hrst  to  help  get  business  for  his  state  and  then  his  city  and  finally 
and  without  petty  knocks  on  his  competitor,  for  his  own  news- 
paper. 

Through  the  state  association  the  newspaper  which  repeats  un- 
fair solicitation  and  knocks  after  repeated  complaint,  borne  out 
by  investigation,  must  be  suspended  from  privileges  or  finally 
dropped  from  membership,  if  the  best  interests  of  all  newspapers 
and  newspaper  advertising  are  to  be  served. 

Jason  Rogers. 

Around  such  a  stem,  with  the  by-laws  of  the  A.  N. 
P.  A.  as  a  model,  a  workable  organization  could  be 
created  which  would  be  worth  many  times  what  it 
cost  the  newspapers  to  estabHsh  and  maintain  it. 

In  operation  each  of  the  sectional  meetings  ar- 
ranged in  circuit  should  be  attended  by  the  president, 
manager,  and  as  many  other  national  officers  as  possi- 
ble to  bring  to  those  not  going  to  the  national  meet- 
ing direct  messages  concerning  what  the  national  body 
is  trying  to  do  for  them.  These  sectional  meetings 
arranged  during  the  fall  season  so  as  not  to  interfere 
with  the  annual  spring  meeting,  would  be  most 
valuable. 

The  meetings  arranged  on  the  basis  of  departmental 
programs,  with  scheduled  topics  specified  for  certain 
hours,  could  be  made  a  vast  improvement  over  the 
purposeless  and  ineffective  practices  adhered  to  in 
the  A.  N.  P.  A.,  with  hand-picked  topics  selected 
at  random  and  representing  time-worn  annuals  trotted 
out  for  the  entertainment  of  the  visitors. 

Members  would  go  home  from  such  meetings  with 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     261 

valuable  pointers  and  suggestions  for  application  to 
situations  confronting  them,  instead  of  wondering 
why  they  had  spent  time  and  money  in  attending, 
as  they  have  done  in  the  past.  If  thought  neces- 
sary, meetings  for  large-city  members  and  small-city 
members  could  be  held  in  different  rooms.  This  in 
answer  to  the  suggestion  often  made  that  all  members 
are  not  interested  in  the  same  sort  of  problems. 

Through  the  interested  activities  of  well-organized 
committees,  it  would  be  possible  to  develop  a  fund 
of  instructive,  informatory  matter  which  by  effective 
interchange  and  publication  in  bulletins  would  save 
the  newspapers  of  the  country  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  of  waste  and  useless  expense  every  year. 

I  have  ventured  to  submit  this  outline  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  newspapers  of  the  country  in  the 
hope  that  they  will  sooner  or  later  awake  to  the 
necessity  for  perfecting  an  organization  that  will 
represent  them  in  a  progressive  spirit  wholly  lacking 
in  the  past.  The  newspapers  can  do  wonderful  things 
for  the  business  interests  of  the  country  if  they  will 
but  co-operate. 


I. 


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XLII 

Proof  That  Co-operative  Effort  Will  Pay 

As  definite  examples  of  what  the  newspapers  of 
the  country  could  do  through  co-operative  effort  to 
double  and  treble  the  volume  of  general  advertising 
m  their  columns  I  present  for  consideration  a  few 
of  the  many  things  I  have  attempted  during  the  last 
six  or  seven  years,  all  of  which  produced  some  result 
but  not  such  as  they  would  have  done  if  backed  by 
a  big  national  association. 

In  1 91 6  I  prepared  a  select  list  of  400  strong  news- 
papers which  was  printed  in  The  Globe  several  times 
as  a  full-page  ad.  and  likewise  in  most  of  the  news- 
papers m  the  list.  Proofs  of  the  ad.  were  mailed  to 
a  large  list  of  advertisers  and  agents,  and  later  the 
hst  was  reduced  to  small  pamphlet  form  and  given 
30,000  distribution. 

In  preparing  the  list  I  got  myself  disliked  by  many 
newspapers  not  represented,  but,  as  I  stated  in  the 
ad.  that  it  could  be  "supplemented  by  other  news- 
papers as  might  be  necessary  to  produce  desired 
results,"  I  think  I  put  over  the  big  idea  to  good 
purpose. 

Few  national  campaigns  extend  beyond  the  use  of 
300  or  400  newspapers.  In  this  Hst  I  sought  to  give 
the  prospective  advertiser  an  illustration  of  the  news- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     263 

papers  of  the  country  I  would  use  for  a  campaign  to 
include  400  of  them. 

Hundreds  of  letters  came  in  from  advertisers  thank- 
ing me  for  the  service,  backed  up  by  scores  of  other 
letters  from  advertising  agents  of  an  unusual  quality, 
from  which  I  shall  quote  as  demonstrating  the  merit 
of  such  work  by  the  newspapers  to  help  the  agent  in 
selling  their  space: 


Accept  my  thanks  for  the  list  of  400  newspapers,  which  I  ap- 
preciate very  much. 

C.  Ironmonger, 

20  Vesey  Street,  New  York. 

Thank  you  for  the  "Select  List  of  400  Newspapers."    It  is 
very  useful  and  we  are  glad  to  have  it  in  this  form. 

W.  G.  Bunnell, 

W.  H.  H.  Hull  &  Co., 

New  York  City. 

This  is  a  very  handy  Uttle  booklet  for  pocket  use,  and  we 
appreciate  your  sending  it  to  us. 

Victor  H.  Young, 

Philip  Kobbe  Co., 
New  York. 

This  contribution  of  yours  to  advertising  agents  is  worthy  of 
praise. 

Williams  &  Cunningham, 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

This  is  quite  valuable,  and  we  appreciate  your  courtesy   in 
sending  a  copy  to  us. 

Wm.  T.  Mullally, 

McClay  &  Mullally, 
New  York. 


■i    11 


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264     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

This  list  is  very  interesting  and  I  am  sure  will  prove  profitable. 

Geo.  a.  Little, 

Jas.  a.  Richards  &  Staff, 
New  York. 

These  lists  are  very  finely  gotten  up,  and  will  be  of  value*for 
ready  reference  to  us. 

D.  J.   HiNMAN, 

Street  &  Finney, 
New  York. 

I  want  to  congratulate  you  on  the  manner  in  which  you  com- 
piled this  list. 

V.  J.  Cevasco, 

Rudolph  Guenther,  Inc. 
New  York. 

Must  congratulate  you  on  the  completeness  of  the  list. 

Gordon  Best, 

Wm.  D.  McJunkin  Adv.  Agency, 
Chicago. 

I  want  to  send  you  just  a  few  lines  to  compliment  you  on 
the  splendid  piece  of  newspaper  publicity.  This  ought  to  be 
productive  of  good  results  for  you  and  I  certainly  think  it  will. 

Edward  M.  Carney, 
Carney  &  Kerr, 
New  York. 

We  thank  you  for  favoring  us  with  this  information,  as  it  is 
very  handy  and  useful. 

Stack  Advertising  Agency, 
Chicago. 

We  acknowledge  with  thanks  receipt  of  the  copies  of  a  list 
of  selected  newspapers  in  the  United  States  which  will  be  un- 
doubtedly useful  to  us  in  making  recommendations  to  our  clients. 

J.  P.  Hallman, 

H.  K.  McCann  Co., 
New  York. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      265 

I  have  received  two  booklets  containing  selected  list  of  400 
strong  newspapers,  and  I  thank  you  very  much  for  these  booklets. 

E.  T.  Wells, 
Morse  International  Agency, 
New  York. 

I  must  say  that  this  is  one  of  the  finest  lists  ever  put  out.  It 
is  a  handy  pocket  guide  and  is  useful  to  every  advertiser  and 

agent. 

H.  W.  Fairfax, 

World  Building, 

New  York. 

We  wish  to  thank  you  for  sending  these  to  us,  as  we  have 
looked  them  over  and  believe  we  can  make  very  good  use  of  the 
list  in  our  daily  work,  because  you  have  included  sufficient  data 
to  make  it  possible  to  use  the  list  as  a  working  basis. 

Lee  E.  Hood, 

Richard  A.  Foley  Adv.  Agency, 
Philadelphia. 

We  think  this  will  be  very  valuable  not  only  to  us  but  to  our 

clients. 

E.  V.  Van  Hook, 

The  Fletcher  Co., 
Philadelphia. 

It  is  surely  a  handy  book  for  any  agency  to  be  in  possession 
of,  and  I  am  taking  this  means  of  thanking  you  for  your  fore- 

sightedness  in  compiling  it. 

J.  P.  Storm, 

New  York. 

In  January,  1913, 1  appeared  before  the  Association 
of  American  Advertisers  at  their  convention  at  Syra- 
cuse, and  presented  the  idea  upon  which  I  later  formu- 
lated the  foundation  of  the  present  Audit  Bureau 
of  Circulations.  In  order  to  crystallize  the  idea  I 
sent  proofs  of  my  address  to  some  400  daily  news- 


M  H 


266     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

papers,  asking  them  to  print  it,  and  sent  marked 
copies  and  a  letter  to  a  list  of  262  national  advertisers. 

The  address  was  printed  from  Maine  to  California 
and  the  Hst  of  advertisers  I  had  furnished  got  a  deluge 
of  clippings  and  letters,  demonstrating  what  the  news- 
papers could  do  more  forcibly  than  could  have  been 
produced  by  any  other  sort  of  an  effort. 

In  June,  19 13,  I  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Control 
of  the  Association  of  American  Advertisers  the  outline 
of  the  plan  upon  which  the  Audit  Bureau  of  Circula- 
tions was  built.  Letters  from  the  members  of  the 
Board  of  Control  may  be  of  interest: 

Mr.  Jason  Rogers, 
%  The  Globe, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
My  dear  Mr.  Rogers: 

Replying  to  your  kind  favor  of  July  ist,  will  say  that  my 
understanding  is  that  the  letter  to  which  you  refer,  and  copy  of 
which  you  enclose,  is  to  be  sent  out  over  your  signature,  and 
such  being  the  case  both  myself  and  the  other  members  of  the 
Board  of  Control  are  a  little  diffident  about  even  suggesting  any 
alterations  in  a  letter  so  kindly  intended  towards  us. 

It  rather  seems  to  all  of  us,  however,  that  it  would  be  better 
to  eliminate  Paragraph  i,  on  Page  2,  commencing  "It  is  now 
planned,  etc.,"  and  I  would  suggest  that  Paragraph  4  on  Page  2 
be  altered  to  read  as  follows: 

"It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  papers  on  this  list  will  be  given 
preference  over  those  refusing  to  stand  for  audits,  and  thus  make 
it  more  difficult  than  formerly  for  the  fakers  in  the  business  to  get 
as  large  a  share  of  most  general  business  as  they  have  done  in 
the  past." 

In  the  next  to  the  last  paragraph  on  Page  i,  I  would  also  sug- 
gest the  use  of  a  comma  after  the  words  "general  advertiser,"  in 
the  second  line,  and  the  word  "every"  between  the  words  "and" 
and  "medium."    This  latter  suggestion  is,  of  course,  merely  a 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      267 

clerical  one  and  you  will  readily  see  expresses  your  apparent 
meaning  a  little  more  clearly. 

I  think  your  suggestion  of  sending  out  a  slightly  modified 
edition  of  this  letter  to  a  selected  list  of  national  advertisers  who 
are  not  members  of  the  Association  is  a  good  one  and  cannot  but 
result  in  some  good,  both  to  our  Association  as  representative  of 
the  advertiser,  and  yours  as  representative  of  the  publisher.  Our 
interests  are,  in  reality,  identical,  but  of  course  the  publisher  and 
advertiser  frequently  have  to  be  approached  from  a  little  differ- 
ent angle. 

Noting  what  you  say  about  the  article  which  will  be  pnnted 
in  the  Editor  and  Publisher,  will  say  I  will  probably  receive  a 
copy  of  this,  at  least  I  hope  so,  and  will  read  same  with  a  great 
deal  of  interest. 

In  connection  with  all  of  the  above  I  wish  to  thank  you  most 
heartily  for  the  interest  you  have  exhibited,  and  are  exhibiting, 
in  this  matter.  There  is  absolutely  no  reason  why  the  interests 
of  the  publisher  and  advertiser  should  not  be  identical,  but  un- 
fortunately many  on  both  sides  of  the  fence  sometimes  fail  to 
see  this. 

With  very  best  regards,  I  am 

Yours  respectfully, 

E.  Mapes. 


July  7,  1913- 
Mr.  Jason  Rogers, 
73-83  Dey  St., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 

Dear  Mr.  Rogers: 

Replying  to  yours  of  the  5th  I  am  sending  another  one  of  our 

Cube  circulars.  . 

Regarding  your  Editor  and  Publisher  article,  I  think  this  is 
fine.  I  want  to  personally  thank  you  and  I  know  the  balance 
of  the  Board  of  Control  will  also  feel  grateful  to  you.  This  is 
fine  co-operation  and  want  you  to  feel  sure  we  appreciate  it. 

Yours  very  truly, 

E.  B.  Merritt. 


,f 


Nt 


268      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Mr.  Jason  Rogers, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
My  dear  Mr.  Rogers: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  yours  of  July  8th,  together  with  copy  of  pro- 
posed letter,  which  strikes  me  as  being  very  well  draughted.  I 
understand  this  will  go  out  over  your  signature,  and  both  in  my 
official  and  personal  capacities  wish  to  thank  you  very  much  indeed 
for  the  interest  which  you  are  manifesting  in  behalf  of  the  Three  A's. 

Yours  truly, 

E.  Mapes. 

Mr.  Jason  Rogers, 
Editor,  The  Globe, 
New  York  City. 
Dear  Mr.  Rogers: 

I  have  your  favor  of  the  8th  inst.  enclosing  clipping  from  the 
Editor  and  Publisher  which  expounds  your  plan  for  exploiting  the 
work  of  the  Association  of  American  Advertisers. 

I  think  this  is  very  comprehensive,  and  the  Association  will 
certainly  be  indebted  to  you  if  this  scheme  can  be  made  effective, 
which  I  surely  believe  it  can. 

With  kindest  personal  regards,  believe  me     • 
Very  truly  yours, 

G.  H.  E.  Hawkins, 

Advertising  Manager, 
The  N.  K.  Fairbank  Company. 

HT     T        T.  -^^y  II f  1913- 

Mr.  Jason  Rogers, 
%  New  York  Globe, 
New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
My  dear  Mr.  Rogers: 

Am  just  this  moment  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  July  loth, 
enclosing  copy  of  your  printed  letter  of  July  9th  addressed  to 
newspaper  publishers;  also  copy  of  your  proposed  letter  to 
selected  list  of  2,000  general  advertisers. 

You  surely  are  striking  some  very  telling,  forceful  blows  in  the 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      269 

interests  of  the  sale  and  purchase  of  advertising  as  a  commodity. 
If  you  won't  consider  it  pure  cheek,  I  would  suggest  that  your 
proposed  letter  to  general  advertisers  would  be  all  the  more 
effective  if  with  it  you  would  enclose  a  copy  of  your  printed  letter 
to  the  newspaper  publishers. 

Am  glad  to  see  that  you  cut  out  of  your  letter  to  publishers 
the  suggestion  that  by  the  publishers  coming  into  the  Association 
it  would  reduce  the  dues  of  the  Association  members.  1  don't 
think  the  A A.A.  members  expect,  or  ought  to  expect,  any  smaller 
dues,  but  if  we  give  them  more  reports  for  the  same  dues  they 
now  pay,  that  would  be  far  more  desirable. 

We  certainly  are  delighted  and  obligated  to  you  personally 
for  the  vigorous,  generous  way  in  which  you  are  devoting  your 
time  and  money  to  test  out  and  organize  the  movement. 

It  will  interest  you  to  know  that  Messrs.  Merritt,  Squier,  and 
the  writer  spent  yesterday  afternoon  with  the  president  of  the 
Advertising  Agencies  Association,  who  expressed  himself  as  being 
very  much  interested  in  our  general  plan  of  having  the  general 
agencies  admitted  as  members  and  to  receive  full  reports.  On 
next  Thursday  we  are  going  to  meet  with  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  General  Agencies  Association  and  discuss  the  prop- 
osition. With  your  publishers  as  a  right  wing,  and  the  General 
Agencies  Association  as  a  left  wing,  we  ought  to  be  a  victorious 
army  in  routing  the  legion  of  lilliputian  liars  on  circulation. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Louis  Bruce. 

This  circular  was  sent  out  to  all  daily  newspapers : 

PLEASE  READ  THIS  CAREFULLY— I  THINK  IT  MEANS 
DOLLARS  IN  YOUR  POCKET 

Office  New  York  Globe, 
2>^  Dey  Street, 

New  York,  July  p,  1913. 

TO  NEWSPAPER  PUBLISHERS: 
Dear  Sir:— 

A  clearer  understanding  between  general  advertisers  and  news- 
paper publishers  will  bring  about  a  fuller  appreciation  of  the 
superior  selling  power  of  the  newspaper  over  any  other  medium. 
20 


fi 


270      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

For  upward  of  two  years  I  have  been  working  along  this  line 
in  the  broad  general  interest  of  all  newspapers. 

The  United  Newspapers,  which  I  organized  until  it  consisted 
of  460  daily  newspapers  pledged  to  co-operation  for  the  develop- 
ment of  more  advertising  for  the  newspapers,  was  turned  over 
to  the^  Bureau  of  Advertising  of  the  American  Newspaper  Pub- 
lishers' Association,  which  is  now  carrying  on  a  work  that  will 
benefit  every  newspaper  in  the  land. 

^  Incidental  to  the  work  which  I  did  in  organizing  that  advertis- 
ing movement,  I  was  brought  into  close  personal  contact  with 
many  of  the  largest  general  advertisers  in  the  country,  and,  know- 
ing how  they  feel  regarding  business  development  for  the  future, 
I  think  I  see  a  way  of  bringing  about  a  profitable  and  effective 
co-operation  that  will  SPELL  MORE  BUSINESS  FOR  THE 
NEWSPAPERS. 

In  response  to  an  invitation  I  recently  attended  a  conference 
at  Chicago  with  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  Association  of  Ameri- 
can Advertisers,  representing  about  eighty  large  general  adver- 
tisers, and  after  a  long  general  discussion,  during  which  we 
viewed  the  problem  from  every  angle,  I  was  invited  to  outline  a 
general  plan. 

Last  week  I  again  went  to  Chicago  and  met  the  Board  of  Con- 
trol and  presented  the  rough  draft  of  a  plan  which  was  very  favor- 
ably considered  by  them. 

In  advance  of  the  final  announcement  of  this  plan  I  am  anxious 
to  secure  the  views  and  suggestions  of  newspaper  publishers  gen- 
erally, and  will  now  briefly  outline  it  to  you,  with  a  sincere  hope 
that  you  will  carefully  consider  it  and  let  me  know  what  you 
think  of  it. 

THE  PLAN 

In  a  word,  the  idea  is  to  crystallize  the  general  sentiment  that 
found  expression  at  the  recent  great  Baltimore  convention  of 
advertising  clubs  and  associations. 

The  interest  of  general  advertisers  and  reputable  publishers  is 
identical.  The  advertisers  want  to  find  as  many  mediums  as 
possible  which  sell  advertising  as  a  commodity,  and  reputable 
publishers  want  to  be  effectively  separated  from  those  who  are 
not  awake  to  modem  conditions  and  who  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other don't  believe  that  advertisers  are  entitled  to  information  as 
to  what  they  get  for  their  money. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      271 

I  have  suggested  that  the  Association  of  American  Advertisers 
enlarge  its  scope  so  as  to  include  in  its  regular  and  affiliated  mem- 
bership every  general  advertiser,  and  every  medium  that  will 
stand  for  the  verification  of  its  claims  and  representations. 

For  upward  of  twelve  years  the  A.  A.  A.,  which  consists  of 
about  eighty  large  national  advertisers,  has  been  conducting  the 
business  of  investigating  circulations  for  its  members.  It  has 
done  a  good  work,  but  being  limited  in  funds  through  small  mem- 
bership has  only  scratched  the  ground,  so  to  speak. 

It  is  plaimed  to  invite  every  medium  that  will  stand  for  annual 
audits  and  make  quarterly  reports  regarding  circulation  to  be- 
come affiliated  members  on  payment  of  annual  dues  based  on 
the  population  of  its  city,  which  dues  will  represent  only  a  part 
of  the  expense  of  making  the  annual  audit  of  its  own  circulation, 
and  in  most  cases  less  than  has  formerly  been  asked  for  certificates. 

It  is  planned  to  compile  the  quarterly  reports  of  all  affiliated 
members  and  send  them  out  to  all  advertisers  who  are  members 
in  such  form  as  to  make  them  convenient  for  reference  as  to 
any  town,  city,  or  section  of  the  country,  and  thus  provide  a  gilt- 
edge  list  which  can  be  used  with  full  confidence  as  to  value  re- 
ceived. 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  papers  on  this  list  will  be  given 
preference  over  those  refusing  to  stand  for  audits,  and  thus  make 
it  more  difficult  than  formerly  for  the  fakers  in  the  business  to 
get  as  large  a  share  of  most  general  business  as  they  have  done 
in  the  past. 

A  form  of  "gilt-edge  list  of  newspapers"  over  the  seal  of  the 
A.  A.  A.  and  the  signature  of  its  president  containing  a  full  list 
of  affiliated  newspapers  will  be  furnished  for  occasional  publication. 

The  affiliated  members  will  naturally  get  the  largest  share  of 
business  being  placed  by  advertisers  who  are  members  of  the 

A.  J\.  A, 

In  my  opinion  it  will  be  worth  many  times  what  it  will  cost 
for  dues  for  any  newspaper  to  be  on  the  select  list  and,  once  for 
all,  separated  from  the  doubtful  class. 

In  order  to  meet  situations  where  one  publisher  thinks  that 
another,  by  juggling  accounts  or  other  falsification,  has  made 
an  audit  ineffective,  the  A.  A.  A.  plan  now  provides  for  a  second 
and  third  review  of  the  findings  and  outside  investigation  of 
routes  and  other  delivery. 


I 


272      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

The  suggested  basis  of  annual  dues  for  affiliated  members  is: 

In  cities  over   500,000  population $100 

250,000  to  499,000  population 75 

100,000  to  249,000  population 50 

"       "  under  100,000  population 25 

SUMMARY 
This  plan  means: 

I—Affiliated  membership  and  listing  for  all  papers  which 

will  stand  for  audits  and  verification. 
2 — Provides  for  having  quarterly  reports  of  circulation  of 

affiliated  newspapers  placed  in  the  hands  of  all  large 

general  advertisers—saving  circularization  and  received 

as  official  data. 
3 — ^Larger  volume  of  business  from  members. 
4 — ^First  consideration  in  making  up  all  lists. 
5 — Closer  relations  with  large  advertisers. 
6 — ^Effective  separation  from  those  papers  which  obtain  big 

copy  by  falsely  claiming  more  circulation  than  they  can 

prove. 

7 — ^Enabling  the  advertiser  to  cut  out  the  purchase  of  cir- 
culation that  never  existed  and  to  spend  more  money 
effectively  with  you. 

8 — ^Provides  a  strong  effective  organization  for  all  interested 
in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  advertising. 

^  As  stated  above,  please  give  this  matter  your  careful  considera- 
tion and  favor  me  with  a  reply. 

This  plan  is  no  part  of  the  Bureau  of  Advertising  of  the  A.  N. 
P.  A.,  but  a  purely  personal  effort  on  my  part  to  stimulate  more 
advertising  for  ALL  REPUTABLE  NEWSPAPERS  that  will 
stand  for  circulation  verification  and  sell  advertising  as  a  com- 
modity. 

Yours  truly, 

Jason  Rogers. 

After  submission  of  the  plan,  with  the  approval  of 
the  board,  I  sent  the  letter  herewith  to  the  2,600 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     273 

daily  newspapers  in  the  United  States  and  Canada 
and  started  the  movement  which  has  grown  until  it 
includes  1,000  publisher  members  and  its  service 
reaches  every  worth-while  advertiser  in  the  country. 

The  plan  of  Graphic  Commercial  Surveys  previously 
referred  to  and  described  in  detail  in  Chapter  XXI  of 
Newspaper  Building  was  another  of  my  efforts  to 
get  the  newspapers  to  make  it  easier  for  the  manu- 
facturer to  use  their  newspapers. 

That  the  idea  was  valuable  is  proved  by  extracts 
from  a  few  of  the  many  letters  received  from  adver- 
tising agents : 

If  such  reports  that  could  be  thoroughly  relied  on  were  made 
all  over  the  country,  it  would  simplify  matters  very  much  and 
would  give  valuable  information  not  now  obtainable. 

H.    N.    McKlNNEY, 

N.  W.  Ayer  &  Sons, 
Phila.  and  N.  Y. 

This  ought  to  be  valuable  information  for  manufacturers  and 
agents  and  you  are  certainly  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  under- 
taking. Such  surveys  of  all  the  leading  cities  would  be  of  im- 
mense advantage. 

C.  H.  Porter, 

Taylor-Critchfield  Co., 
Chicago. 

You  certainly  are  entitled  to  a  great  deal  of  credit  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Graphic  Commercial  Survey  of  New  York  City. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  helpful  propositions  that  has  come  to 
my  desk  for  some  time. 

G.  C.  Sherman, 

Sherman  &  Bryan, 
New  York. 

We  find  your  Graphic  Commercial  Survey  very  useful  every 
day,  and  it  is  just  the  sort  of  informing  matter  which  I  would 


274      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

like  to  see  more  publishers  produce,  because  it  helps  the  agent 
cultivate  his  full  with  so  much  more  intensiveness. 

Robert  Tinsman, 

Federal  Advertising  Agency, 
New  York. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  comprehensive  propositions  of  its  kind 
that  has  ever  come  to  the  writer's  notice,  and  your  organization 
deserves  great  credit  for  its  enterprise. 

Gerald  B.  Wads  worth, 
Frank  Seaman,  Inc., 
New  York. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      275 

This  is  an  admirable  thing,  and  if  kept  up  to  date  and  made 
authentic,  will  be  invaluable  to  men  in  my  profession. 

Victor  L.  Cunningham, 
WiLLL^MS  &  Cunningham, 
Chicago. 

The  work  you  are  doing  should  prove  of  real  service  to  every 
one  who  is  interested  in  national  advertising  and  local  daily  news- 
paper advertising. 

William  Dailey, 

Cheltenham  Adv.  Agency, 
New  York. 


These  surveys  come  nearer  taking  the  place  of  a  man  on  the 
ground  than  anything  that  has  ever  come  to  our  notice. 

J.  O.  O'Shaughnessy, 

O'Shaughnessy  Adv.  Co., 
New  York. 

Your  plan  if  carried  through  will  be  of  tremendous  benefit  to 
advertisers. 

F.  J.  Hermes, 

Blackman  Ross  Co., 
New  York. 

We  asked  that  you  send  this  to  some  of  our  clients  because  we 
felt  it  is  very  practical  and  valuable.  When  a  manufacturer  can 
get  a  full  comprehension  of  a  market,  it  is  much  simpler  to  adjust 
his  advert'sing  and  sales  plan  to  the  work  of  that  market. 

Paul  E.  Faust, 

Mallqry.  Mitchell  &  Faust, 
Chicago. 

To  my  mind  it  is  the  most  constructive  effort  I  have  seen  on 
the  part  of  newspapers  to  further  their  own  interest  and  that 
of  the  national  advertiser,  which  are  of  course  Hnked  together. 

Guy  Bradt, 

Levin  &  Bradt, 
New  York. 


This  is  the  most  complete  work  of  its  kind  we  have  ever  seen. 
We  sincerely  trust  that  the  example  set  in  producing  this  sur- 
vey of  New  York  City  for  the  use  of  advertisers  and  advertising 
agencies  will  be  followed  by  enterprising  publishers  in  other 
cities. 

'  P.  F.  O'Keefe, 

Boston. 

It  is  a  great  help  to  any  man  who  will  use  it  in  a  practical  and 
consistent  manner  and  cannot  help  but  assist  any  sales  organiza- 
tion to  a  remarkable  degree,  provided  it  is  handled  in  an  efficient 
way. 

I.  R.  Spiegel, 

Lord  &  Thomas, 
Chicago. 


la  I 


'*l 


» I 


i: 


I 


XLIII 

Intensifying  Reader  Interest  in  Advertising 

During  the  summer  of  1915  we  ran  a  series  of  three 
or  four  advertising  contests  in  The  New  York  Globe 
which  probably  did  more  to  put  that  newspaper  on 
the  map  as  an  advertising  medium  at  a  time  when 
it  badly  needed  stimulation  than  could  have  been 
accomplished  by  years  of  toil.  Limited  space  pre- 
cludes more  than  a  brief  summary  of  the  most  in- 
teresting venture  in  advertising  experience  I  have 
ever  seen. 

Coming  East  through  Chicago  in  March,  I  noticed 
the  advertising  contests  being  conducted  by  The 
Chicago  Tribune  for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating 
that  people  read  the  ads.  in  The  Sunday  Tribune. 
The  Tribune  bunched  the  letters  regarding  the  adver- 
tising of  any  firm  and  forwarded  them  to  the  adver- 
tiser. 

The  thing  looked  good  to  me  as  a  means  of  in- 
tensifying reader  interest  in  advertising.  On  the 
train  I  kept  turning  it  over  in  my  mind,  and 
by  the  time  I  arrived  at  New  York  I  had  worked  out 
something  I  liked  better  than  the  Chicago  method. 

Afraid  that  some  other  New  York  newspaper  would 
get  ahead  of  me,  I  sat  up  most  of  the  night  preparing 
the   announcement,  which  we  inserted  in  the  next 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      277 


day's  Globe  in  three  full  columns,  offering  $390  in 
prizes  to  women  in  competition  from  April  19th  to 
24th,  as  follows: 

All  you  have  to  do  to  enter  the  contest  is  write  a  letter  to  The 
Globe  telling  which  advertisement  in  The  Globe  interests  you  most 
and  why  that  particular  advertisement  does  interest  you. 

The  response  from  our  women  readers  was  truly 
wonderful,  including  some  20,000  letters,  of  remark- 
able quality.  Classified  by  departments  of  adver- 
tising, the  record  was : 


u 


ii 


n 


li 


n 


(t 

u 

« 

<( 

iC 

tc 

u 

« 

Miscellaneous 22      per  cent. 

Pure  food 20 

Department  stores ii}4 

Apparel  for  women 7^ 

Luxuries 8 

Financial 6 

Automobiles 6 

Shoes 5 

Medicinal 5 

Apparel  for  men 4 

Amusements 4 

Travel i 

The  advertising  of  John  Wanamaker  drew  more 
repHes  than  any  other;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  more  than 
twice  as  many  as  any  other  department  store,  and 
that  of  Hearn  &  Co.,  who  use  only  two  columns  a 
day,  came  second,  just  a  bit  ahead  of  R.  H.  Macy 
&  Co. 

The  five  first-prize  winning  letters,  as  selected  by 
a  committee— J.  J.  Geisinger,  Harry  Prudden,  Walter 
A.  Bunnell,  Harold  A.  Lieber,  and  L.  A.  Van  Patten- 
were  as  follows: 


i  fff  U 


N< 


m 


t 


278      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

(FIRST  PRIZE— $200.00) 

AprU  22,  1915. 
Dear  Sir: — 

^  For  quite  some  time  I  have  been  carefully  reading  the  adver- 
tisements appearing  in  The  New  York  Globe,  and  have  noted  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  Loose-Wiles  Biscuit  Company. 

Their  advertisement  printed  on  the  20th  inst.  impressed  me  more 
than  any  other.  In  the  first  place,  the  name  "Sunshine"  is  sug- 
gestive of  health,  of  purity,  and  of  trust,  and  is  well  chosen.  In 
the  second  place,  the  advertisement  is  written  plainly  and  simply, 
making  no  impossible  pretensions.  There  are  no  bold  statements 
to  the  effect  that  their  biscuits  are  the  only  good  ones  on  the 
market.  ^  In  the  third  place,  their  honest  invitation  extended  to 
all  to  visit  their  ''spotless,  sunflooded  rooms,  in  the  largest 
bakery  in  the  world"  and  see  personally  how  their  products  are 
made,  is  sufficient  to  convince  me  of  the  purity  and  excellence 
of  "  Sunshine  Biscuits."  The  above  three  reasons  have  influenced 
me  to  order  my  grocer  to  bring  me  only  "Sunshine  Biscuits,"  and 
I  have  always  found  the  greatest  satisfaction  with  them. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Mrs.  Sallie  Dellon, 
147  Dumont  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

(SECOND  PRIZE— $50.00) 

,  April  24,  191 5. 

Dear  Sir: — 

The  advertisement  of  the  John  Wanamaker  Store  in  The 
Globe  of  the  2  2d  inst.  interested  me  more  than  any  other  that 
appeared  in  your  pages  last  weel^. 

It  impressed  me  so  strongly  first,  because  of  its  freedom  from 
exaggeration.  Nowhere  was  I  told  that  here  was  the  chance  of 
a  lifetime  to  buy  goods  at  prices  never  before  equaled  or  ever 
likely  to  be  equaled. 

^  Second,  because  each  class  of  goods  was  described  so  fully, 
simply,  and  accurately  that  I  was  able  to  decide  at  once  with  the 
help  of  the  subjoined  prices  just  which  of  the  advertised  articles 
I  wanted.  A  shopping  trip  to  the  store  the  next  day  confirmed 
these  conclusions  and  saved  me  the  usual  weary  round  of  the 
stores. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      279 

Third,  because  it  proved  easy  and  agreeable  reading.  I  was 
not  tired  when  I  finished  it. 

Last  but  not  least,  because  the  foreword  by  Mr.  Wanamaker 
on  the  evil  of  "boast  and  brag"  in  mercantile  advertising  made  a 
powerful  appeal  to  me.  I  must  confess  it  biased  me  in  favor 
of  the  store.  When  will  all  the  merchants  realize  the  futility  of 
misrepresentation  and  exaggeration  in  advertising? 

Yours  truly, 

Isabel  F.  Degen, 
215  Audubon  Ave.,  New  York. 


(THIRD  PRIZE— $25.00) 

April  26 y  191 5. 

Dear  Sir: — 

I  have  read  over  carefully  the  ads.  in  The  Globe  during 
the  past  week,  and  find  I  am  most  interested  in  the  Kayser 
Silk  Glove  ad.,  in  the  issue  of  the  20th,  for  the  following 
reasons: 

ist:  Because  it  is  a  timely  ad.,  as  most  women  buy  silk  gloves 
in  April. 

2d:  Because  it  has  an  attractive  illustration  as  well  as  a  catchy 
heading. 

3d:  Because  it  clearly  states  the  fourfold  protection  given  each 
purchaser  through  the  careful  system  of  inspection.  It  suggests 
to  my  mind  that  this  same  care  is  given  every  other  detail  of  the 
manufacture.  We  hear  so  much  about  machinery  nowadays 
that  we  get  the  impression  that  manufacturing  consists  of  merely 
putting  raw  materials  in  one  end  of  the  machine  and  taking  out 
the  finished  product  at  the  other. 

4th:  Because  it  distinctly  states  that  a  guarantee  is  given 
with  each  pair  of  gloves.  It  stands  to  reason  that  unless  utmost 
care  is  used  in  making  the  gloves  the  manufacturers  could  not 
afford  to  give  this  guarantee.  Nothing  inspires  a  purchaser  with 
greater  confidence  than  an  article  sold  with  a  guarantee. 

This  ad.  leaves  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  every  pair  of  Kayser 
Silk  Gloves  are  serviceable  with  long-wearing  qualities. 
Yours  very  truly, 

Miss  Bertha  Isabel  Rosenthal, 
132  East  15th  St.,  New  York 


1    I  t-! 


280     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

(FOURTH  PRIZE— $10.00) 

Dear  Editor:—  /»    y  :> 

Among  the  many  splendid  Glohe  ads.  from  which  it  is  difficult 
mdeed  to  select  a  decisive  favorite,  I  respectfully  submit  as  my 
choice  that  of  the  Gorham  Co.,  Silversmiths  and  Goldsmiths, 
Fifth  Ave.  and  Thirty-eighth  Street.  It  pleases  and  interests  me 
for  these  reasons: 

The  form  is  distinctive,  standing  out  among  the  more  commer- 
cial, illustrated  ads.  with  a  certain  classic  severity  Hke  a  well- 
dressed  person. 

The  contents,  too,  are  most  delightfully  appropriate  for  the 
line  of  merchandise  offered,  ''We  have  with  us  to-night"  that 
ever  faithful  friend  of  pubhc  speakers,  how  deliciously  appropriate 
an  mtroduction  for  a  Loving  Cup  ad.,  gripping  the  reader  at  once 
with  a  sense  of  fellowship;  and  how  finely  the  whole  commercial 
appeal  is  submerged  in  the  sentimental  one,  a  fact  the  value  of 
which  is  being  increasingly  recognized  in  the  world  of  business. 
Yet  withal  the  ad.  is  most  complete,  carrying  to  the  reader's  mind 
every  essential  fact  in  regard  to  the  Gorham  house.  To  sum- 
marize:  The  Gorham  ad.  appeals  to  me  as 

The  least  striking,  the  most  pleasing, 
The  least  commercial,  the  most  convincing, 
A  splendid  ad.,  humanized,  and  finely  written. 
It  is  more,  it  is  a  piece  of  literature. 

Respectfully  yours, 
Margaret  Cotter,  348  E.  i8th  St., 

Flatbush,  L.  I. 

(FIFTH  PRIZE— $5.00) 
Dear  Sir: — 

An  attractive,  convincing  ad.  like  that  of  Cammeyer's  in  The 
Globe  of  last  Wednesday,  in  a  word,  solves  the  problem  of  correct 
style  in  footwear.  It  displayed  the  merchandise  and  gave  the 
value.  It  acquainted  me  with  the  style  and  I  knew  what  to 
expect  when  I  called  at  the  store. 

I  had  been  quite  perplexed  the  early  part  of  last  week  as  to 
what  style  shoe  would  answer  my  purpose.    Of  course  I  wanted 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      281 

it  to  be  quite  the  thing,  yet  staple  and  not  too  expensive.    And 
the  pump  at  $5  shown  in  the  attached  ad.  spelled  "purchase"— 

and  I  did. 

The  whole  ad.  breathes  an  air  of  refinement  and  states  the 
plain  facts  in  a  most  interesting  and  convincing  manner  so  ap- 
peasing and  refreshing  after  the  large  spreads  and  shouts  of  bar- 
gains. It  suggests  no  bargain— but  a  good  value  to  be  appreciated. 
That  is  why  Cammeyer's  ad.  caught  my  eye  and  held  my  at- 
tention, so  that  I  read  it  through  carefully  and  decided  that  here 
was  the  merchandise  for  me. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Miss  Joan  Black, 

14  Koemer  St.,  Elmhurst,  L.  I. 


($2.00  PRIZE) 

Dear  Sir: — 

The  most  interesting  advertisement  in  last  week's  Glohe  to  my 
mind  was  that  of  Best  &  Co.,  on  page  9  of  your  issue  for  Wednes- 
day, April  2ist.     It  interested  me  because  of  its: 

(i)  Superior  technique.  Ample  white  space,  large  type,  o^n 
lines  attract  the  eye  and  invite  reading.  Modest  illustrations 
lend  charm.  No  frantic  appeal  for  custom  here;  even  the  tech- 
nical features  suggest  dignity  and  inspire  confidence. 

(2)  Originality  of  purpose.  Weight  of  emphasis  falls  upon  moral 
values.  Integrity  of  the  firm,  its  key-note.  Convinced  of  that, 
we  may  trust  the  quality  of  the  goods  sold  to  take  care  of  itself. 

(3)  Effective  organization  of  subject-matter.  The  advertise- 
ment has  unity.  It  seeks,  and  I  think  successfully  achieves  its 
end,  by  reason  of  its  definiteness  and  exclusion  of  irrelevant  and 
confusing  suggestions.  It  has  coherence.  First,  a  simple  direct 
statement  of  policy,  then  the  citations  of  a  particular  case  in 
point,  clinching  the  argument. 

(4)  Personal  touch.  Unlike  surrounding  advertisements.  Best's 
"appeals"  because  it  presents  a  vivid  personality  in  "W.  A.  A." 
One  feels  that  he  will  make  good,  that  he  is  more  than  a  machine. 
An  efficient  business  man,  oh  yes,  but  also  a  human  being  who 
cares.  Very  truly  yours. 

Miss  Martha  S.  Boardman, 
17  Washington  PL, 

Bloomfield,  N.  J. 


■Hi 


t*il 


282      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

($2.00  PRIZE) 

April  25,  igij. 
Gentlemen: — 

Never  before  did  I  read  over  with  such  carefulness  the  adver- 
tising columns  of  The  Globe,  although  I  am  a  daily  reader  of  your 
paper. 

On  Monday,  April  19th,  I  was  particularly  impressed  with  an 
advertisement  appearing  on  page  9  of  The  Globe  by  the  John 
Wanamaker  stores. 

Of  course  I  know  the  Wanamaker  advertisements  well,  glance 
them  over  nearly  every  day. 

The  real  attraction  of  this  particular  advertisement  was  the 
introduction.  Who  wouldn't  be  interested  in  reading  an  intro- 
duction such  as  was  used  as  a  headliner  in  that  particular  ad., 
"This  day,  April  19th,  was  a  great  day  in  America  in  1783." 

Patriotism  was  the  moving  spirit  in  more  carefully  perusing 
this  ad.,  and  after  reading  that  this  was  the  date  on  which,  132 
years  ago,  hostilities  ceased  in  this  country,  I  was  so  inspired 
that  the  entire  advertisement  was  so  carefully  read  over  by  me 
that  I  found  in  said  ad.  several  announcements,  which  impressed 
me  so  much  that  they  prompted  me  to  visit  that  particular  store 
the  following  day  and  make  my  selections. 

An  advertisement  which  speaks  of  offerings  only  can  never 
be  as  impressive  as  one  which  has  an  educational  value  besides. 

Cora  Abrams, 

522  West  157th  Street,  City. 


2.00  PRIZE) 

April  24,  191 5. 
Dear  Sir: — 

I  have  carefully  looked  over  all  the  advertisements  in  The 
Globe  for  the  last  week,  and  the  most  interesting  to  me  is  Macy's 
advertisement  of  Wednesday  night. 

First:  Because  it  is  pleasing  and  restful  to  the  eye,  there 
being  no  excess  of  printer's  ink. 

Second:  It  shows  a  fine  regard  for  the  law  of  order.  There 
is  a  place  for  everything  and  everything  is  in  its  place. 

Third:  Every  item  has  a  plain  heading.  If  interested,  you 
read  it  all;  if  not,  you  save  time  by  passing  on  to  the  next. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      283 

Fourth:  The  little  drawings  are  very  good,  giving  life  to  the 
page  and  attracting  the  eye. 

Fifth:  The  size  of  the  spacings  is  so  arranged  as  to  give  a  well- 
balanced  page. 

Sixth:    There  is  a  large  variety  in  the  type  used,  thus  domg 

away  with  monotony. 

Seventh:  and  very  important,  if  not  most  important,  the  de- 
scription of  each  article  is  not  a  jumble  of  fine  words,  but  im- 
presses one  as  being  a  clear,  honest  description  of  the  garment 
or  thing  advertised. 

This  is  my  impression  of  Macy's  advertisement  of  Wednesday 

night. 

Here's  hoping  I  may  hear  from  you. 
Very  sincerely, 

Lou  Albertson  Cock, 

(Mrs.  Robt.  E.) 
57  Gould  Ave.,  Caldwell  Cedars, 
Caldwell,  N.  J. 


►2.00  PRIZE) 

April  24,  1915. 

Dear  Sir: — 

As  a  busy  housewife,  with  four  Uttle  ones  to  do  for,  I  found 
Macy's  ad.  occupying  page  7  of  The  Globe  of  April  21st  the  most 
interesting  ad.  printed  in  The  Globe  this  week. 

First:  This  ad.  fills  a  page  and  stands  alone  so  one  can  read  it 
comfortably,  without  the  distraction  of  assorted  ads.  which  are 
sometimes  confusing. 

Second:  This  ad.,  while  it  is  arranged  compactly  and  lists  a 
large  ntimber  of  items,  is  most  appealing  to  the  eye.  It  is  dressed 
in  pretty  type  and  each  of  the  various  offers,  placed  in  its  separate 
frame,  is  scanned  without  effort,  much  as  one  would  examine 
goods  on  their  separate  counters. 

Third:  Most  of  the  items  offered  are  for  women  or  children 
and  nearly  every  one  of  the  dozen  small  and  tasteful  drawings 
offer  a  suggestion  that  a  busy  woman  should  appreciate. 

Fourth:  This  ad.  does  not  demand  the  presence  of  the  reader 
at  the  store  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the  economies  offered, 
as  many  other  ''bargain"  ads.  do.  Many  women  who  might 
wish  to  take  advantage  of  special  offers  and  could  not  visit 


i 


lil  \\i 


284      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  city  on  a  specified  day  can  order  by  mail  from  an  ad. 
like  this. 

Fifth:  Most  of  the  items  offered  in  this  page  ad.  are  real  bar- 
gains, offered  by  a  store  in  which  one  can  place  full  confidence; 
thus  all  misgivings  are  removed,  and  satisfaction  remains  when 
the  articles  are  in  use. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Ruby  Boyd  Andrews, 
Winslow  Cottage, 
Crestwood,  Tuckahoe,  N.  Y. 


($2.00  PRIZE) 

April  26,  igis. 
Dear  Sir: — 

There  are  some  things  which  are  bound  to  appeal  to  a  tired 
business  woman.  Macy's  advertisement  of  Wednesday,  April 
21,  191 5,  is  one  of  them. 

It  stood  out  as  a  page  of  sane,  common-sense  business  ad- 
vertising. Every  article  received  its  own  little  compartment, 
with  the  name  of  the  article  in  large  type.  How  simple  to  find 
what  I  wanted! 

Beneath  each  heading  was  a  simple,  honest  description  of  the 
article,  no  lengthy  eulogy  or  impossible  description.  Many  il- 
lustrations helped  the  tired  brain  to  picture  the  article  with  the 
least  amount  of  effort. 

But  the  best  of  all  was  at  the  bottom  of  each  article.  In  small 
type  was  given  the  floor  where  each  article  could  be  found.  Not 
only  that— the  section  of  floor  where  it  might  be  found  was  also 
given.  How  often  have  I  trailed  around  a  department  store 
floor,  vainly  hunting  for  an  article  which  was  somewhere  on  that 
endless  floor,  but  where?  To  one  suffering  with  the  chronic  ail- 
ment of  "no  time,"  this  small  boon  was  of  no  slight  value. 

My  few  precious  minutes  of  shopping  would  now  be  profitably 
spent  without  unnecessary  waste  of  time  or  energy. 

I  am, 

Respectfully  yours, 

Harriet  S.  Auspitz, 

961  Avenue  St.  John, 
Bronx,  N.  Y. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      285 

($2.00  PRIZE) 
Dear  Sir: — 

In  entering  The  Globe  advertisement  contest  I  beg  to  state 
that  the  B.  Altman  &  Co.  ad.  appeals  best  to  my  taste. 

Goods  advertised  by  B.  Altman  &  Co.  are  graded  and  priced 
so  distinctly,  and  without  any  hypnotic  inducements  to  bait  the 
public  with.  In  fact,  their  advertisement  leaves  little,  if  any, 
room  for  being  skeptical  as  to  the  merit  of  the  "ad."  The  result 
is,  that  a  person  may  instantly  judge  whether  or  not  the  goods 
thus  graded  and  priced  come  within  the  possibility  of  one's  purse; 
consequently,  people  going  to  B.  Altman  &  Co.  would  appear  to  be 
business  customers  and  not  mere  visitors,  a  phenomenon  not  alto- 
gether unusual  in  many  a  big  store.  In  my  opinion  such  an  ad. 
is  bound  to  make  for  a  lasting  business  reputation. 

Mrs.  Anna  Halemeier, 
462  Grand  view  Ave., 

Ridgewood,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


^        ^  J2.00  PRIZE) 

Dear  Sir: — 

The  advertisements  of  B.  Altman  &  Co.  have  always  claimed  my 
interest  because  they  ring  true  and  inspire  confidence  in  the  store, 
its  methods  and  merchandise. 

For  instance,  the  "ad."  of  Tuesday,  April  20th,  featuring  a 
sale  of  bed  furnishings,  does  not  insult  the  intelligence  of  the 
housewife  by  claiming  that  the  blankets  sold  during  the  sale  for 
three  dollars  formerly  sold  for  eight,  or  that  the  twenty-five-cent 
pillow-cases  previously  brought  a  dollar  each. 

In  this  advertisement,  wherever  B.  Altman  &  Co.  thinks  a  partic- 
ular item  is  real  good  value,  they  say  so,  leaving  it  to  you  to  decide, 
when  you  see  the  article,  as  to  the  actual  money  saving  it  represents. 

Where  a  considerable  reduction  is  made  in  any  line,  the  reason 
for  it  is  given.  If  the  goods  are  shop-worn  or  in  any  other  way 
not  exactly  perfect,  you  are  told  about  it,  so  that  you  know  what 
to  expect  and  whether  to  take  advantage  of  the  price  reduction. 

This  method  of  advertising  has  made  me  a  firm  believer  in  the 
store  of  B.  Altman  &  Co.  and  my  experience  so  far  has  proved 
that  my  confidence  is  not  misplaced. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Mrs.  Julia  Gross, 

940  East  173d  St.,  New  York  City. 


m 


*»i 


ft 


286      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

($2.00  PRIZE) 
Dear  Sir: — 

In  looking  over  the  advertisements  in  The  Globe  to-day  the  one 
that  appealed  to  me  the  most,  in  view  of  the  approaching  simimer 
months,  and  the  fact  that  it  appears  in  the  columns  of  the  Pure 
Food  Directory,  a  guarantee  in  itself  of  the  purity  and  quality 
of  the  articles  advertised,  is  the  Riker-Hegeman  Soda  Fountain 
Advertisement,  an  advertisement  that  attracts  the  attention  of 
the  majority  of  the  readers  of  The  Globe,  especially  Women  and 
Children  who  are  among  the  largest  patronizers  of  Soda  and  Ice- 
cream Parlors. 

The  wording  of  the  advertisement  is  plain  and  right  to  the 
point,  no  superfluous  reading  matter,  just  plain  and  concise  state- 
ments that  the  reader  can  absorb  at  a  glance.  What  more  could 
the  most  fastidious  ask  for?  Absolutely  pure  Milk,  Syrups,  and 
Cream,  served  in  dry  and  polished  cups  and  glasses,  polite  and 
courteous  service,  these  are  things  that  are  fully  appreciated  by 
the  most  exacting. 

From  my  point  of  view,  that  is  what  the  advertisement  suggests 
to  me,  and  I  know  that  when  I  feel  the  need  of  anything  in  their 
line,  I  will  look  for  a  Riker-Hegeman  Store  first  before  going 
elsewhere. 

Grace  E.  Fleming, 

276  West  119th  St.,  City. 

($2.00  PRIZE) 

April  26,  igi5. 
Dear  Sir: — 

^  The  stores  of  New  York  afford  profitable  shopping  opportuni- 
ties for  residents  of  near-by  cities,  because  of  greater  variety  for 
selection  and  often  at  lower  prices  than  could  be  had  at  home. 

Judging  from  an  out-of-town  shopper's  standpoint,  I  consider 
the  inclosed  ad.  of  Saks  &  Co.,  April  23d,  the  most  interesting 
because  of  its  completeness  and  comparative  brevity.  It  gives 
essential  details  concerning  the  different  lots  of  garments  on  sale, 
namely:  quantity,  quality,  style,  size,  material,  colors,  prices,  and 
the  location  in  the  store  of  the  various  departments  where  the 
articles  can  be  found.  Such  details  are  a  distinct  advantage  to 
prospective  out-of-town  customers,   whose  time  is  necessarily 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      287 

limited,  for  a  perusal  of  the  advertisements  before  starting  enables 
one  to  determine  at  which  store  her  money  can  be  spent  most 
profitably,  thereby  avoiding  unnecessary  loss  of  time  and  energy 
searching  for  her  requirements,  which  should  be  pleasantly  spent 
at  some  amusement  until  train-time.  Detailed  ads.  are  of  equal 
value  to  local  shoppers,  for  the  prudent  shopper  finds  out  where 
the  best  bargains  are  to  be  had,  thereby  gaining  the  advantage 
of  an  early  selection. 

Wishing  The  Globe  an  increased  volume  of  substantial  adver- 
tising, I  am,  Very  truly, 

Katherine  Z.  Farrell, 
65  North  Clinton  St., 

Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 


52.00  PRIZE) 

April  26,  1913. 
Dear  Sir: — 

The  best  ad.  appearing  in  The  Globe  during  the  week  ending 
April  24th  was  the  John  Wanamaker  ad.  in  your  issue  of  Satur- 
day, April  24th. 

The  two  unique  illustrations,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  head- 
line in  large  type,  attract  the  attention,  and  are  so  distributed 
that  the  eye  unconsciously  travels  over  the  whole  ad.,  taking  in 
instantly  the  important  features. 

The  goods  offered  are  of  present  need  to  both  men  and  women, 
whether  interested  in  the  home  or  out-of-doors. 

Each  article  is  interestingly  and  clearly  described,  the  prices 
quoted  seem  consistent  with  description,  and  the  giving  of  the 
location  saves  both  time  and  energy. 

The  general  simplicity  of  all  statements  inspires  confidence  in 
the  truthfulness  of  the  assertions. 

The  quality  of  the  language,  and  the  general  refined  make-up 
of  the  ad.,  induce  one  to  believe  that  he  or  she  will  find  depend- 
able goods  and  be  served  by  competent  attendants. 

The  daily  message,  signed  "John  Wanamaker,"  gives  a  per- 
sonal touch,  and  indicates  that  there  is  a  man  with  a  heart  and 
of  highest  ideals  behind  the  business. 
Yours  truly, 

Martha  A.  W.  Chandler, 

22  Post  Avenue,  New  York  City, 


* 


laii 


288     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Instead  of  sending  the  letters  to  the  advertisers  I 
kept  them  all  safely  housed  in  my  office  and  invited 
the  executives  of  the  big  stores  to  come  down  and 
study  them.  I  found  they  were  not  half  so  much 
interested  in  the  letters  regarding  their  own  adver- 
tising as  those  commending  the  advertising  of  com- 
petitors. 

These  thousands  of  letters  presented  a  new  angle 
regarding  advertising  to  them  and  to  me.  The  con- 
sumer's point  of  view  is  the  crucial  test  of  all  adver- 
tising, and  I  had  produced  a  fund  of  real  testimony 
greater  and  more  conclusive  than  had  ever  been  as- 
sembled before. 

The  Second  Contest 

The  success  of  the  first  contest  was  so  satisfactory 
that  after  some  study  I  decided  to  launch  a  second 
aimed  at  another  point  of  interest  in  retail  advertising. 
I  called  it  an  "Ad. -testing  Contest,"  asking  each  con- 
testant to  tell  the  story  of  her  experience  in  buying 
goods  advertised  in  The  Globe,  with  $1,500  in  prizes 
for  the  best  letters. 

Staged  to  run  over  the  period  from  July  ist  to 
15th,  usually  a  very  dull  time  with  us,  and  well  ad- 
vertised among  the  local  retail  shops,  this  contest 
attracted  and  brought  to  us  nearly  double  the  amount 
of  business  we  had  ever  run  at  that  time  of  year. 

We  received  over  26,000  letters  from  readers,  most 
of  whom  inclosed  with  their  letters  sales  slips,  proving 
their  purchases.  We  never  calculated  the  total  of 
these  slips,  but  they  ran  into  enormous  figures. 

Again  we  produced  a  fund  of  material  for  the  study 
of  our  advertisers  and  incidentally  convinced  them 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     289 

that  we  really  had  done  something  very  important 
in  intensifying  the  interest  of  our  readers  in  the  ad- 
vertising printed  in  The  Globe. 

The  Third  Contest 

Not  satisfied  that  we  had  exhausted  the  interest 
of  our  readers,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  our 
large  advertisers,  we  conducted  a  third  contest,  which 
had  as  the  test  "What  Style  of  Advertising  Do  You 
Prefer?"  for  $225  in  prizes. 

While  to  a  certain  extent  this  contest  went  largely 
over  the  ground  covered  in  the  first  one,  it  produced 
better  than  12,000  letters  and  confirmed  the  previous 
opinion  of  our  readers,  with  the  Wanamaker  copy 
running  far  and  away  in  advance  of  all  others,  and 
with  Heam-and  Macy  next  in  order. 

It  reflected  an  increasing  interest  in  the  smaller 
ads.,  from  general  advertisers,  but  conclusively  proved 
to  us  at  least  that  there  was  abundant  opportunity 
for  improvement  in  the  appeal  of  this  class  of  adver- 
tising. Many  a  line  of  copy  which  I  thought  would 
get  recognition  from  the  body  of  readers  failed  to  get 
a  hand. 

At  some  future  time  I  am  going  to  consolidate  a 
selection  from  the  letters  received  in  the  contests 
into  a  book  which  should  be  of  immense  interest 
to  all  students  of  advertising  copy.  I  am  convinced 
that  until  our  advertisers  get  these  angles  on  copy 
they  will  never  get  the  results  secured  by  the  depart- 
ment stores  who  approach  the  consumer  more  nearly 
in  the  language  and  style  he  or  she  is  accustomed  to. 

To  dig  into  these  letters  for  a  few  hours  in  con- 
junction with  the  particular  ad.  which  produced  the 


■mi 


m 


Hl!l)<M 


I 


Mil!  \ 


W 


11 


290     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

letters  proves  that  our  women  readers  make  a  study 
of  the  ads.  for  what  they  convey  to  them  in  profit- 
able service  or  values. 


The  Fourth  Contest 

Again  at  the  suggestion  of  an  advertiser,  I  started 
a  fourth  contest  for  small  prizes  for  the  best  sugges- 
tions from  readers  regarding  improved  store  service. 
Over  3,000  letters  from  readers  were  entered  and  a 
finer  collection  of  constructive  material  was  never 
assembled  anywhere. 

A  committee,  representing  the  advertising  man- 
agers of  five  large  shops,  spent  hours  and  hours  read- 
ing over  and  judging  the  letters.  It  was  most  inter- 
esting to  me  to  see  the  way  the  letters  appealed  to 
these  hard-headed  business  men  as  giving  4:hem  valu- 
able suggestions  and  views  regarding  their  own  busi- 
ness never  before  coming  to  their  notice.  More  than 
3,000  letters  were  received. 

This  group  of  about  100  letters,  clearly  indicating 
points  of  criticism  regarding  present  store  manage- 
ment and  suggesting  remedies,  has  since  been  loaned 
by  me  to  store  executives  and  merits  the  closest  and 
most  sympathetic  consideration.  Many  of  these  men 
have  told  me  that  I  had  rendered  them  the  greatest 
service. 

Incidentally,  by  the  merest  study  of  a  few  of  the 
thousands  of  letters,  I  found  myself  at  a  great  ad- 
vantage in  my  subsequent  contact  with  retail  adver- 
tisers. Armed  with  data  regarding  use  of  space  by 
all  advertisers,  and  knowing  the  consumer  angle,  I 
can  nearly  always  secure  the  closest  interest  from  the 
man  seeking  to  get  greater  results  from  advertising. 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      291 

There  is  a  world  of  suggestive  value  in  this  for  the 
general  advertiser.  Until  he  can  make  his  advertising 
approximate  the  appeal  of  local  advertising  he  is 
wasting  a  certain  percentage  of  his  appropriation  for 
copy  which  may  or  may  not  look  pretty  to  him  or  his 
agent. 

I  believe  that  a  study  of  this  material  when  as- 
sembled will  revolutionize  the  advertising  policy  of 
many  general  advertisers  and  conclusively  prove  to 
them  the  absurdity  of  spending  large  sums  of  money 
in  general  mediums  such^as  the  magazines,  the  so- 
called  national  weeklies,  bill-boards,  paint  signs, 
street-cars,  and  such. 


i) 

;    I 


'IE} 


i 


XLIV 
Local  Development. — /.  Bernard  Lyon 

A  YOUNG  man,  J.  Bernard  Lyon,  has  taken  up  a 
new  phase  of  local  advertising  development  for 
newspapers  which  has  been  very  effective.  Unlike 
other  syndicate  plans,  Mr.  Lyon  furnishes  personal 
and  expert  service  in  a  way  that  estabHshes  per- 
manent accounts. 

Primarily,  Mr.  Lyon's  plan  means  placing  at  the 
disposal  of  the  publisher  a  highly  organized  promo- 
tion department,  which  not  only  solicits  the  local 
advertiser,  but  solves  his  publicity  problems,  writes 
his  copy,  furnishes  necessary  art  work,  and  starts 
him  right  on  a  regular  definite  schedule.  Then  the 
new  advertiser  is  turned  over  to  the  local  advertising 
solicitor,  who  can  easily  develop  him  into  a  steady, 
year-in-and-year-out  space  user.  This  means  that  ad- 
vertising counsel,  copy  and  art  service  are  furnished 
to  him  in  practically  the  same  manner  as  to  the  na- 
tional advertiser.  This  co-operative  work  is  handled 
with  newspapers  on  a  percentage  basis  of  the  actual 
business  secured,  and  its  cost  is  at  a  much  less  figure 
than  the  publisher  would  need  to  maintain  his  own 
promotion  department. 

In  every  city  there  are  many  stores  and  manufact- 
urers who  should  advertise  on  regular  schedules  and 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      293 

whose  campaigns  would  be  very  desirable.  Inducing 
these  inactive  advertisers  or  "hard  nuts"  to  make  a 
start  is  a  most  difficult  problem.  The  local  solicitor 
has  his  difficulties.  He  is  generally  compelled  to 
pass  up  these  ''hard  ones"  because  he  cannot  spare 
the  time  to  work  them  properly. 

Mr.  Lyon  has  an  organization  that  has  studied 
throughout  the  United  States  this  problem  of  turn- 
ing spasmodic  or  occasional  advertisers  into  regular 
users  of  a  fixed  volume  of  space.  In  his  organiza- 
tion are  high-class  advertising  men  who  have  given 
particular  attention  to  all  the  phases  of  the  many 
problems  confronting  the  newspaper  publisher  and 
the  retail  merchant,  as  well  as  the  local  manufacturer. 
At  intervals  Mr.  Lyon  sends  to  newspapers,  with 
whom  he  has  connections,  one  of  these  specialists, 
who  makes  a  careful,  thorough,  systematic  solicita- 
tion of  the  local  firms  that  should  be  advertising  on 
regular  schedules. 

This  specialized  solicitor  is  often  better  qualified 
to  talk  to  the  prospect  than  the  local  solicitor.  Often 
the  local  solicitor  is  too  well  known.  To  him  the  pros- 
pect airs  his  troubles,  all  local  and  of  small  conse- 
quence, irritates  his  memory  of  old  petty  quarrels  and 
the  solicitor  listens  and  sympathizes.  This  specialist 
does  not.  He  has  no  interest  in  anything  but  adver- 
tising and  permits  no  conversation  on  other  subjects 
unless  they  bear  directly  on  the  main  issue. 

The  benefits  of  this  work  are  lasting  —  to  the 
advertisers,  the  newspapers  as  well  as  to  the  news- 
papers' solicitors.  The  advertiser  so  instructed  on  Mr. 
Lyon's  plan  becomes  an  intelligent  buyer  of  space, 
and  is  no  longer  the  uncertain  patron  who  has  to  be 
**sold"  every  time  he  runs  an  ad.     He  is  sold  the 


V 


i 


, 

■'. 

i 

i  • 

j^^i 

294      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

idea  of  the  value  of  constructive  advertising — of  run- 
ning a  definite  campaign,  calling  for  certain  space  on 
specified  days.  On  Mr.  Lyon's  plan  advertisers  are 
never  sold  space  on  feature  pages,  schemes  or  in  special 
editions.  The  constructive  campaign  only  is  taught, 
as  it  is  better  for  the  advertiser.  It  is  also  better  for 
the  newspaper.  It  helps  to  create  an  ideal  situation 
for  the  newspaper,  as  the  publisher  knows  weeks 
ahead  at  least  the  minimum  amount  of  space  he  will 
carry.  This  plan  is  also  of  great  value  to  the  pub- 
lisher at  this  particular  time,  during  the  paper  short- 
age and  other  conditions  brought  on  by  the  war,  as 
it  tends  to  equalize  the  space  used  by  the  adver- 
tiser— it  helps  the  publisher  relieve  some  of  his  over- 
burdened pages,  as  it  calls  for  schedules  of  daily,  and 
two  and  three  times  a  week  insertions. 

The  copy  and  art  service,  as  usual,  has  the  strong- 
est appeal  to  the  local  merchant  and  manufacturer, 
as  well  as  to  the  national  advertiser.  This  is  true  in 
securing  as  well  as  holding  and  developing  the  ad- 
vertiser. When  the  light  of  the  advertising  gospel 
has  been  made  to  dawn  upon  the  consciousness  of 
the  local  prospect,  he  is  ''signed  up"  and  his  cam- 
paign is  prepared  in  Mr.  Lyon's  copy  department, 
and  his  advertising  is  handled  just  as  carefully  as  if 
it  were  a  national  campaign. 

The  plan  is  working  successfully  for  the  advertisers 
and  the  newspapers.  It  is  making  money  for  both, 
and  develops  absolutely  new  accounts. 


P^RT   V 


I 


li 


^'^ 


\ 


XLV 
The  Pioneer  Special  Representatives 

A  CROWD  of  special  newspaper  representatives  and 
general  agents  met  at  lunch  not  long  ago,  and  drifted 
in  a  reminiscent  atmosphere.  Early  days  in  the  ad- 
vertising business  in  New  York  were  recalled,  and 
vivid  word-pictures  of  the  men  who  were  active  as 
pioneers  were  painted  by  different  speakers.  Each 
incident,  touching  on  the  personality  of  some  one  who 
was  well  known  in  days  that  have  gone,  brought  to 
light  characteristics  of  the  men  who  put  the  snowball 
of  advertising  in  motion  and  watched  it  grow  in  size. 

**It  was  different  before  the  first  special  publishers' 
representative  came  into  the  field,"  one  of  them 
mused.  **Then  the  general  agent  was  the  whole  thing. 
He  represented  advertiser  and  publisher.  The  first 
special  representative  heralded  a  division  of  interest 
— a  concentration  on  a  single  point.  The  man  who 
originated  the  idea  deserves  a  monument,  for  he 
laid  the  foundation  upon  which  the  small  but  efficient 
band  of  special  publishers'  representatives  work  to 
this  day.  His  principles  were  sound,  his  reasoning 
correct,  his  methods  accurate.  The  portrait  of  that 
man  should  be  in  every  special  and  general  agency 
office,  and  on  the  walls  of  the  room  of  every  foreign 
newspaper  advertising  manager  in  the  United  States." 


I 


M 


, 


298      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"Who  was  the  first  special?"  asked  one. 

No  one  could  answer.  The  Editor  and  Publisher 
in  191 6  investigated  the  matter,  interviewing  the 
oldest  of  the  specials  in  New  York  to  obtain  this  in- 
formation. 

L.  H.  Crall  was  the  first  special  publishers*  repre- 
sentative.   The  general  principles  he  laid  down  in  1875 
are  adhered  to  by  the  small  army  of  special  repre- 
sentatives to-day.     They  have  succeeded,  in  a  large 
measure,  in  reorganizing  the  business  in  the  foreign 
field,  and  they  have  developed  newspaper  advertising 
accounts  to  the  point  where  nearly  one  thousand 
daily  newspapers  and  over  six  thousand  weekly  news- 
papers  are   to-day   represented   in    New   York   and 
Chicago.    The  business  Crall  established  is  continued 
under  the  name  of  the  L.  H.  Crall  Company.     Crall 
outlined  the  course  he  was  to  follow  while  he  was  en- 
gaged as  an  advertising  soHcitor  in  Cincinnati.     He 
was  in  the  habit  of  making  trips  to  New  York  to 
keep  in  touch  with  new  accounts  or  the  renewal  of 
old  contracts,  and  on  those  occasions  he  came  in  con- 
tact with  E.  B.  Mack  and  F.  T.  MacFadden,  of  the 
same  city.     Comparing  notes,  they  discovered  that 
the  business  was  developing  so  fast  that  it  would  soon 
require  the  presence  of  a  man  in  the  metropolis  all 
the  time.     The  publishers,  however,  could  not  see 
it  that  way.     To  maintain  a  special  representative 
in  the  East  was  an  expensive  luxury— he  might  just 
as  well  be  spending  some  of  his  time  drumming  up 
business  in  Cincinnati. 

Then  Crall,  who  had  faith  in  the  future,  conceived 
the  idea  of  representing  a  group  of  newspapers.  As 
the  managements  were  dubious  as  to  the  success  of 
the  plan,  he  exhibited  his  confidence  by  offering  to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      299 

work  on  a  commission  basis,  setting  15  per  cent,  as  his 
compensation,  he  to  pay  all  expenses.  To  the  "I'll 
try  anj^hing  once"  publishers  of  that  day  this  ap- 
pealed in  the  nature  of  a  cinch,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1875  Crall  rented  a  room  in  the  Bennett  Building, 
which  still  stands  at  the  comer  of  Nassau  and  Fulton 
Streets,  tacking  on  his  door  the  names  of  The 
Cincinnati  Times,  The  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  The 
Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  The  Milwaukee  Sentinel,  and  The 
Cincinnati  Enquirer.  A  month  later  E.  B.  Mack, 
representing  The  Cincinnati  Gazette,  The  Chicago 
Times,  Louisville  Commercial,  and  The  Missouri  Re- 
publican (now  The  St.  Louis  Republic),  came  on 
and  took  a  desk  in  the  same  room,  to  be  followed  in 
a  few  weeks  by  F.  T.  MacFadden,  another  Cincin- 
natian,  who  had  The  Cincinnati  Commercial  and  The 
Chicago  Tribune. 

They  all  used  the  same  office  until  the  completion 
of  the  present  Tribune  Building,  in  1876,  when  they 
took  separate  rooms  in  that  structure,  being  the  first 
occupants. 

In  those  days  the  general  agencies  controlled  the 
advertising  business.  They  placed  it  when  and  where 
they  pleased,  at  commissions  that  ran  from  15  to 
25  per  cent.  The  amount  of  advertising  they  sent 
to  weeklies  is  beyond  belief.  Then  the  weekly  edi- 
tions of  The  Toledo  Blade,  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat, 
New  York  Tribune,  and  others,  were  enormous  factors! 
Rates  were  cut  in  the  most  flagrant  manner,  the  artists 
along  that  Hne  being  the  space-buyers  of  the  agencies, 
who  paid  about  as  much  attention  to  rate  cards  as 
a  Texas  steer  does  to  local  option  in  the  Rand.  Be- 
cause papers  were  fewer,  their  owners  well  known, 
and  everything  was  bustling,  it  was  possible  for  a 


! 

! 

i 

■         i 

,j 

3cx>     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

space-buyer  to  know  nearly  all  rates.      There  have 
been  men  in  these  days  who  are  considered  clever 
in   this   respect,   but   the  old-timers   were  marvels. 
They  knew  not  only  what  paper  would  stand  a  cut, 
and  how  much,  but  just  how  far  they  could  go  *' be- 
yond the  Hmit,"  if  the  order  were  accompanied  by 
a  check.    In  those  days  it  was  more  difficult  to  meet 
bills,   and  when  a  publisher  received  copy  for   144 
lines,  that  he  couldn't  possibly  get  into  less  than  200 
lines,  he  banked  the  check  and  ran  the  business,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  on  the  basis  of  144  lines 
he  was  taking  the  account  at  less  than  half  his  regular 
rates.      DaiUes   carried  very   Httle  foreign   business, 
for  the  reason  that  they  could  not  be  induced  to  cut 
rates  to  the  same  extent  that  the  weeklies  would  per- 
mit.    Hence,  there  were  general  agents  who  cut  the 
dailies  off  their  visiting  Hsts.    The  advertiser  gambled 
with  pubHcity.    He  knew  nothing  about  the  business, 
accepting  the  word  of  the  agent.    He  seldom  bothered 
to  check  up  an  account,  and  with  an  utter  disregard 
for  consequences,  rarely  attempted  to  prove  inser- 
tion.     Newspapers,    deahng    directly    with    general 
agents,  came  to  look  upon  them  as  their  representa- 
tives. 

This  was  the  condition  Crall,  Mack,  and  MacFad- 
den  faced  when  they  came  to  New  York  forty-three 
years  ago.  The  commission  they  were  charging  pub- 
Ushers  was  in  addition  to  the  amount  the  general 
agencies  exacted.  It  was  an  uphill  fight,  against  odds, 
and  in  a  game  where  the  cards  were  all  held  by  op- 
ponents. Lottery  ads.  were  quite  the  thing,  and 
were  among  the  best  accounts  that  went  out.  ^  Medi- 
cine advertising  to-day  is  tame  compared  with  the 
character  of  stuff  turned  out  by  the  adjective  manipu- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     301 

lators  of  the  '70's  and  '8o's,  who  "piled  up  the  agony" 
in  a  way  that  would  convince  the  healthiest  man  who 
read  their  screed  that  he  was  tottering  on  the  edge 
of  the  grave.  Everybody  was  after  the  business, 
mostly  by  mail.  These  three  men  brought  the  per- 
sonal element  into  the  game.  They  went  behind  the 
general  agency  to  the  advertiser  himself,  told  about 
their  papers,  what  they  were  doing,  the  field  they 
served,  and  the  way  they  did  it.  They  commenced 
to  call  for  circulation  statements,  and  to  show  the 
man  who  spent  the  money  that  they  represented  a 
class  of  publications  that  were  growing  rapidly,  that 
were  supplementing  weeklies  in  the  rapidity  of  cir- 
culation and  popular  favor.  The  pressure  they 
brought  to  bear  was  tremendous.  They  invented 
keyed  copy  in  order  that  the  advertiser  might  check 
up  results,  and  they  kept  humping. 

Nearly  all  accounts  in  the  general  foreign  field 
then  were  paid  for  quarterly — some  semiannuaUy. 
This  furnished  an  opportunity  for  a  number  of  fake 
concerns  to  sell  what  they  had  to  offer,  and  go  out  of 
business  before  collection  day  came  around.  Crall, 
Mack,  and  MacFadden  inaugurated  the  monthly 
settlement  plan.  One  large  advertiser  in  the  late 
'70's  failed,  "sticking"  every  paper  with  which  he 
did  business,  except  those  represented  by  these  three 
men,  who  stationed  themselves  about  his  offices,  tak- 
mg  up  strategic  positions  commanding  every  en- 
trance, from  early  one  morning  until  after  dark, 
when  they  caught  the  principal  and  collected  every 
dollar  coming  to  the  papers  they  represented. 

Crall  was  resourceful  and  original.  He  projected 
his  mind  into  the  future,  and  when  the  Centennial 
Exposition  was  held  in  Philadelphia,   in   1876,   he 


I" 

f: 


J I 


302      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

capitalized  the  rivalry  between  the  various  piano 
houses  for  exposition  awards.  He  induced  one  firm 
to  advertise  its  claims,  and  when  the  others  followed, 
he  invented  the  telegraphic  reader,  wiring  his  notices 
to  the  daihes,  and  beating  competitors  by  from 
twenty-four  hours  to  seven  days. 

Before  very  long  each  of  the  rival  piano  firms 
placed  its  business  in  his  hands,  permitting  him  to 
send  its  copy  by  telegraph  nightly.  It  was  a  great 
stroke  of  enterprise  that  brought  him  a  large  amount 
of  trade,  for  in  those  days  special  agents  handled  ac- 
counts themselves — just  to  demonstrate  to  the  gen- 
eral agents  that  it  was  a  game  that  two  could  play. 
A  short  time  after  this  Crall  obtained  the  advertising 
account  of  B.  T.  Babbitt  &  Co. 

In  the  early  '8o's  S.  C.  Beckwith  came  into  the 
field,  representing  The  Omaha  Bee  and  The  Leadville 
(Col.)  Chronicle,  and  within  a  few  years  when  a 
dozen  more  crowded  into  the  field,  the  special  agents 
confined  themselves  to  newspaper  representation,  and 
relinquished  accounts  which  they  were  handling  in 
competition  with  the  general  agencies.  They  fought 
constantly  for  more  business  at  better  rates. 

What  was  considered  among  the  best  copy  of  the 
*7o's,  however,  was  the  reading  notice.  It  was  in- 
vented by  H.  L.  Ensign,  of  Warner's  Safe  Cure  fame. 
It  was  wonderfully  worded  and  splendidly  displayed, 
carrying  the  regular  news  head  of  the  paper,  and 
as  the  post-office  department  did  not  require  news- 
papers to  label  reading  matter  "advertisement"  when 
paid  for,  columns  of  this  matter  appeared  daily.  A 
man  met  with  a  terrible  accident  and  was  about  to 
die,  when  some  one  in  the  crowd  thought  of  a  remark- 
able advertised  remedy,  got  a  bottle,  administered  a 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      303 

dose,  and  he  was  cured  in  a  few  moments — ^and  so  on, 
ad  lib.     The  patent  medicine  men  amassed  fortunes. 

Among  the  big  men  in  the  proprietary  field  at  that 
time  was  **Pay  in  Advance  Johnson."  He  would 
order  a  column,  or  a  page,  and  either  give  a  check 
to  the  agent  or  send  it  along  with  the  order  for 
"Dr.  Johnson's  Indian  Blood  Syrup."  He  got  rock- 
bottom  prices  for  advertising,  made  enormous  sales, 
and  retired  with  millions.  He  drove  blooded  horses 
in  Central  Park  with  W.  K.  Vanderbilt  and  other  well- 
known  men. 

Crall,  when  he  came  to  New  York  as  a  pioneer  in 
his  field,  insisted  that  the  Eastern  field  extended 
from  the  Florida  Capes  to  Maine,  the  Western  to 
Buffalo  and  Pittsburgh — sl  point  he  carried,  and  which 
the  special  without  exception  holds  to  this  day. 

When  the  proprietary  medicine  accounts  had  been 
developed  to  the  snapping  point,  other  lines  were 
taken  up,  such  as  stocks,  then  bonds,  financial,  mer- 
chandizing, liquors — a  hundred  and  one  other  ac- 
counts began  to  appear — ^and  then  the  screws  were 
again  applied,  this  time  to  the  patent  medicine  manu- 
facturer, who  fell  back  from  first  place  as  a  patron 
of  newspaper  advertising.  Higher  prices  came  with 
new  accounts,  and  with  it  the  fearful  and  wonderful 
rate  cards,  amplified  from  the  cut  rates  of  the  middle 
*7o's  and  the  early  '8o's,  when  newspapers  boosted 
prices  enormously,  in  the  hope  that  the  general  agents 
would  give  them  more  when  they  applied  their  hori- 
zontal reduction  process  of  25,  33^^,  or  50  per  cent. 

Through  all  the  changes  the  special  publishers' 
representative  has  been  a  factor  in  developing  busi- 
ness, in  maintaining  rates,  in  rendering  service,  im- 
proving credit,  and  weeding  out  frauds. 


I 


II 


1 

l: 


I 


:> 


XLVI 

The  ''Special'*  a  Constructive  Force. — 
John  B.  Woodward 

In  order  best  to  present  the  modem  efficiencies  of 
the  well-equipped  special  of  the  present  day,  I  have 
asked  him  to  tell  his  own  story  in  his  own  words  and 
suggested  that  he  prove  his  reason  for  existence. 
This,  I  am  sure,  he  has  done,  for  no  finer  group  of 
high-grade  men  are  engaged  in  any  line  of  business 
than  the  specials. 

John  B.  Woodward,  with  offices  in  New  York, 
Boston,  and  Detroit,  representing  The  Chicago  Daily 
News,  The  Boston  Globe,  The  Baltimore  Sun,  and  The 
Cleveland  Plain-Dealer,  with  a  sound  organization  in 
the  field,  also'  is  acting  as  Advertising  Director  of 
The  Chicago  Daily  News. 

I  have  known  John  Woodward  since  about  1894, 
when  he  came  to  New  York  to  represent  the  old 
Chicago  Record,  the  morning  edition  of  The  Chicago 
Daily  News.  During  all  these  years  he  has  kef^t 
abreast  of  every  progressive  movement  for  the  better- 
ment of  newspaper  advertising,  and  maintained  the 
respect,  confidence,  and  co-operation  of  advertisers 
and  advertising  agencies. 

What  Mr.  Woodward  says  under  the  title,  *'The 
Special:  A  Constructive  Force,"  is  most  informatoryr 
and  valuable: 


JOHN   B.    WOODWARD 


-! 


I 


[M 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     305 

"The  'special  representative'  is  almost  as  old  as 
the  newspaper.  The  modem  special  representative 
is  a  more  recent  product  of  advertising.  His  ad- 
vent in  the  field  of  'foreign'  business  dates  from  the 
awakening  of  the  great  metropolitan  newspapers  and 
the  lesser  daily  journals  to  the  importance  of  develop- 
ing business  beyond  the  immediate  influence  of  the 
home  office. 

"With  this  awakening  on  the  part  of  newspapers 
there  was  a  revolutionary  change  in  organization  and 
operation  of  the  special  representatives,  to  meet  the 
more  modem  and  exacting  duties  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  demands  of  their  newspapers  for  constructive 
and  creative  work  in  the  foreign  field. 

"In  the  old  days,  the  special  representative  was 
a  rather  odd  institution.  He  usually  represented  a 
string  of  newspapers,  and  the  one  vital  purpose  of  his 
life  was  to  unsell  competing  papers.  He  was  a  *  copy- 
chaser'  of  the  first  order,  and  the  only  creative  ac- 
tivity of  his  life  was  that  involved  in  discovering  new 
arguments  against  his  competitors.  In  a  word,  his 
activity  was  of  a  purely  negative  sort,  and  the  con- 
structive element  was  not  in  his  book. 

"The  special  representative  of  the  present  time  is 
not  an  individual,  but  a  highly  specialized  organiza- 
tion. The  group  plan  has  survived  because  it  lends 
itself  more  effectively  to  the  idea  of  specialization — 
to  creative  work — and  offers  each  publisher  on  the 
list  not  only  the  individual  genius  of  the  organiza- 
tion's head,  but  the  diversified  genius  of  a  staff  of 
well-trained,  keenly  ambitious  men,  to  whom  the 
special  agency  now  offers  a  prosperous  and  highly 
respected  career. 

"The  old  'copy-chasing'  idea  is  gone  forever.    The 


"i 


I 


306     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

men  who  dominate  the  'special'  field  to-day  are  in 
every  sense  creators  of  business.  Their  old  system  of 
calling  and  agencies  and  other  sources  of  advertising 
where  personality  played  an  all-important  part  in 
the  success  or  failure  of  the  'special'  have  broadened 
and  developed  along  substantial  lines  until  to-day 
the  relations  existing  between  the  'special'  and  the 
agency,  or  between  the  'special'  and  the  advertiser 
direct,  are  based  upon  co-operation,  mutual  respect, 
and  every  other  relation  that  is  needful  to  well- 
turned  and  thoughtful  business  operations. 

"The  special  representative  is,  in  fact,  his  newspaper 
or  newspapers  abroad.  His  organization  is  a  group 
of  merchandizing  speciaHsts  upon  whom  the  adver- 
tiser has  come  to  depend  for  first-hand  knowledge  of 
market  conditions  in  territories  which  he  seeks  to 
cover  with  his  pubHcity.  This  organization  brings 
to  the  advertiser  careful  analysis  of  these  conditions 
in  general  or  particularized  form  upon  which  may  be 
intelligently  based  plans  which  experience  has  proved 
profitable.  In  rendition  of  service,  the  'special '  is  as 
well  equipped  as  his  home  office.  He  can  and  does 
furnish  the  advertiser  the  proper  solution  of  mer- 
chandizing, distribution,  and  dealer  contract  prob- 
lems, and  the  various  forms  of  sales  assistance  which 
has  come  to  be  a  part  of  every  well-ordered  newspaper 
establishment. 

*'The  special  representative  of  to-day  is  in  reality 
a  composite  of  all  branches  of  all  the  newspapers 
which  his  organization  represents.  He  brings  to  his 
selling  effort  a  high  intelligence  and  knowledge  of 
the  communities  that  the  advertiser  is  interested  in, 
which  he  discusses  constructively  and  intelligently. 
He  is  armed  with  statistics  and  works  on  a  broader 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      307 

plan  than  the  mere  landing  of  an  order  regardless  of 
the  ability  of  his  newspapers  to  give  adequate  returns 
to  the  advertiser. 

"And,  too,  the  aggressive  special  agency  is  finding 
a  new  field  of  endeavor  in  development  work.  It  is 
no  longer  unusual,  but  quite  an  ordinary  thing,  to 
see  a  potential  advertiser  brought  to  the  point  from 
which  he  is  carried  forward  by  a  good  advertising 
agency,  through  the  efforts  of  the  special  representa- 
tive. In  this  work  his  purpose,  primarily,  is  to  make 
the  prospect  a  newspaper  advertiser;  and,  of  course, 
being  a  good  'special,'  he  has  constantly  before  him 
new  lineage  for  his  papers  from  a  heretofore  unde- 
veloped source. 

"I  believe  that  the  special,  as  a  constructive  factor 
in  advertising,  is  only  at  the  beginning  of  his  develop- 
ment. The  men  who  are  associated  with  the  pro- 
fession are  coming  more  and  more  to  appreciate  the 
lasting  value  of  constructive  work.  They  are  com- 
ing more  and  more  to  understand  that  highly  intelli- 
gent salesmanship,  combined  with  full  knowledge  of 
every  detail  of  the  commodity  which  they  sell,  is  a 
business  asset  that  must  be  as  carefully  guarded  and 
cultivated  as  the  structure  upon  which  any  other 
business  is  built.  He  is  no  longer  a  'copy-chaser.' 
He  no  longer  hinges  his  hope  for  lineage  upon  his 
ability  to  unsell  his  competitor,  but  in  every  essential 
point  of  good  salesmanship  he  measures  up  admirably 
to  the  high  standards  by  which  good  salesmen  of 
advertising  are  measured." 


XLVII 


Service  Rendered  the  Newspaper. — Dan  A.  Carroll 


Dan  a.  Carroll  represents  The  Philadelphia 
Bulletin,  The  Montreal  Star,  The  Indianapolis  News, 
The  Washington  Star,  and  Baltimore  News,  four  won- 
derfully dominant  newspapers  always  having  recogni- 
tion on  any  list  for  any  campaign  designed  to  cover 
their  fields. 

I  have  known  Dan  Carroll  since  the  'go's.  He 
led  the  way  among  specials  in  important  statistical 
data  regarding  commercial  conditions  in  the  cities 
where  his  papers  were  printed. 

His  plan  of  serving  a  limited  number  of  absolutely 
top-notch  newspapers  rather  than  a  long  string  of 
strong  and  doubtful  newspapers  has  been  a  winner 
from  the  start. 

Mr.  Carroll  has  won  a  place  second  to  no  one  in 
the  advertising  field  by  his  genial  and  effective  ser- 
vice. Every  one  worth  while  in  the  advertising  world 
knows  Dan  and  knows  that  when  he  says  a  thing 
*4t  is  so." 

What  Mr.  Carroll  says  regarding  *'The  Service 
the  Special  Representative  in  the  National  Field 
Renders  the  Newspaper  PubHsher"  is  worthy  of  close 
reading  and  study: 


<  ( 


The  function  of  the  special  newspaper  represent- 


■■» 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     309 

ative  in  the  national  advertising  field  has  broadened 
and  become  definitely  fixed.  He  renders  the  news- 
paper publisher  an  essential  and  economic  service 
as  important  in  its  way  as  is  the  service  which  the 
general  advertising  agency  delivers  the  national 
advertiser. 

"The  well-equipped  special  representative  main- 
tains an  organization  in  close  touch  at  all  times  with 
the  development  of  national  advertising,  and  it  is 
this  type  of  service  that  is  generally  recognized  by 
astute  publishers  to  be  indispensable. 

**Time  is  not  far  distant  when  various  publishers 
had  an  idea  that  national  advertising  in  itself  was 
not  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  a  well- 
organized  force  in  the  field  operating  from  New  York 
and  Chicago,  developing  new  business  and  working 
with  advertisers  and  general  advertising  agents  as 
a  part  of  the  service  between  the  newspaper  and  the 
advertiser.  To-day,  however,  it  is  pretty  general]  v 
recognized,  that  the  special  representative  lends  a 
certain  speeding-up  process  in  the  transaction  of  busi- 
ness between  the  publisher,  advertiser,  and  general 
advertising  agent.  His  suggestions  relative  to  the 
important  part  which  the  newspaper  plays  in  a  cam- 
paign are  welcome  and  generally  received  with  ap- 
preciation because  the  successful  special  representa- 
tive who  knows  his  field  intimately  can  often  render 
worth-while  service  in  this  way  that  makes  his  work 
in  the  field  invaluable. 

"There  are  three  prime  essentials  in  the  make-up 
of  a  progressive  advertising  salesman.  I  rate  them 
in  the  order  named:  Honesty,  Enthusiasm,  Concen- 
tration. Furthermore,  every  newspaper  advertising 
salesman  should  know  in  advance  as  much  as  he  can 


iW 


i 


310     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

ascertain  about  the  advertiser,  his  proposition  and 
the  general  characteristics  of  his  business,  as  reserve 
ammunition,  before  planning  his  sales  argument  on 
a  prospective  account.  In  addition,  he  should  of 
course  know  all  the  important  points  of  interest  re- 
garding the  market  where  his  paper  is  published. 
This  refers  to  trade  conditions,  peculiar  local  business 
conditions  which  may  or  may  not  make  a  successful 
bid  for  new  accounts.  Cold  facts,  yes,  but  given  the 
human  touch  by  the  representative  who  knows  how 
to  do  it,  become  intensive  sales  argument. 

"Manufacturers  of  trade-marked  merchandise  are 
interested  primarily  in  market  more  than  mediimis, 
and  it  is  the  function  of  the  well-equipped  news- 
paper advertising  salesman  to  'sell'  the  market  first 
to  the  manufacturer  and  fit  in  with  his  selling  talk 
afterward  the  newspaper  which  he  represents. 

"On  the  advertising  staff  of  The  Philadelphia  Bulletin 
is  a  man  who  for  several  years  was  advertising  man- 
ager of  a  leading  department  store.  He  has  charge 
of  a  merchandizing  service  department,  and  his  job 
is  to  take  cold,  hard  facts,  such  as  circulation  figures, 
advertising  comparisons,  market  conditions — visualize 
them,  making  interesting  charts  to  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  soHcitation.  Statistics  merely  as  statis- 
tics don't  interest  anybody,  but  statistics  worked  out 
on  a  human  interest  basis  can  always  get  an  audience. 
"Likewise,  The  Washington  Star,  Indianapolis  News, 
Baltimore  News,  and  Montreal  Star  operate  trade  in- 
vestigation departments,  in  charge  of  competent  men 
who  can  make  an  advance  analysis  of  market  con- 
ditions for  any  manufacturer,  thereby  putting  in  the 
hands  of  their  advertising  representatives  valuable 
information  that  helps  them  over  rough  spots  in  pre- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     311 

senting  their  argument  to  the  prospective  national 
advertiser. 

"The  selling  of  newspaper  advertising  in  the 
national  field  has  materially  changed  during  the  past 
twenty  years.  In  the  old  days  ability  in  salesmanship 
was  not  the  first  essential,  as  a  great  many  adver- 
tisers conducted  their  own  advertising  departments 
and  doled  out  their  advertising  to  such  advertising 
agencies  as  could  make  the  best  price  to  them  for 
a  given  list  of  papers. 

"The  newspaper  commission  for  this  agency  service 
ranged  from  10  to  25  per  cent.  Hence,  the  agency 
that  made  the  biggest  cut  in  commission  generally 
got  the  order  for  placing  the  account.  Printers'  Ink 
says  it  was  N.  W.  Ayer  &  Son  among  the  larger 
agencies  back  in  1873  who  first  estabHshed  a  fixed 
commission  rate  of  15  per  cent,  for  service.  Hereto- 
fore many  advertising  agencies  and  newspaper  repre- 
sentatives were  nothing  more  nor  less  than  space 
brokers,  with  all  the  attendant  irregularities— indif- 
ferent service,  cut  rates,  inflated  circulation  state- 
ments, etc. 

"In  recent  years  a  marked  development  in  national 
advertising  in  the  daily  newspapers  is  noted,  both  in 
the  amount  and  character  of  the  business  and  the 
way  in  which  it  is  promoted.  Leading  advertising 
agencies  have  well -organized  departments  for  the 
purpose  of  developing  and  handling  newspaper  adver- 
tising nationally  in  an  intelligent  manner;  no  longer 
is  it  the  custom  for  advertisers  to  delegate  certain 
lists  to  advertising  agencies  to  place  at  a  price.  The 
preparation  of  copy  and  merchandizing  service  are 
big  factors.  Contracts  are  made  with  newspapers 
generally  as  per  the  card  rates,  because  known  rates 


it] 


r^ 


:   ■  K 


312      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

and  known   circulations   are   standardized    with  all 
worth-while  newspapers. 

"Every  national  campaign  in  the  newspapers  is 
merely  the  sum  and  total  of  many  local  campaigns  and 
the  possibihties  of  the  success  of  each  local  campaign 
are  more  manifest  when  the  newspaper  through  its 
special  representative  is  working  in  close  co-operation 
with  the  advertiser  or  his  agents  in  the  carrying  out 
of  all  the  details  pertaining  to  the  matter  of  service, 
and  the  advice  and  suggestion  of  the  experienced  news- 
paper salesman  are  often  helpful  in  the  development 
of  a  new  account. 

"It  is  estimated  that  over  90  per  cent,  of  the  na- 
tional advertising  accounts  are  placed  through  gen- 
eral advertising  agencies.     This  emphasizes  partic- 
ularly  the    necessity  of   close   contact   between  the 
representatives  of  the   newspapers   operating  in  the 
national  field  and  the  general  advertising  agencies  for 
the  very  best  results.     The  special  representative  in 
the  national  field  occupies  somewhat  the  same  posi- 
tion as  the  advertising  manager  of  the  newspaper  in 
the  local  field.     He  must  be  alert,  in  close  touch  with 
all  prominent  accounts  as  well  as  the  personnel  of  the 
leading  advertising  agencies   who  handle   the  prin- 
cipal accounts.     He  must  have  at  his  finger  ends  at 
all  times  correct  and  impartial  information  regarding 
the  field  which  his  newspaper  covers  and  be  prepared 
to  consult  with  the  advertiser  and  his  agent  relativj 
to  local  marketing  conditions. 

"In  total,  the  special  representative  renders  to  the 
publisher  through  the  means  of  accelerating  the  work 
in  the  development  of  the  business  in  the  national 
advertising  a  definite  and  important  service.  He  acts 
as  an  intermediary  between  the  publisher,  the  seUer, 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      313 

and  the  advertising  agent  or  his  client,  the  buyer  of 
white  space.  He  eliminates  lost  motion  and  reduces 
the  possibility  of  friction  between  publishers  and 
agents  by  means  of  personal  contact.  In  no  other 
way  could  the  newspaper  publisher  get  service  of 
this  character." 


M! 


■•ij-     i 


\ 


1 


XLVIII 

Foreign  Business  at  Home.—John  E.  O'Mara 

^  John  E.  O'Mara,  of  O'Mara  &  Ormsbee,  repres<>nt- 
Tr^^v  °^^?  z.^^'i"'^  evening  newspapers  including  The 
New  York  Globe,  The  Minneapolis  Journal,  The  Newark 

T^n  f  f.r,''!^^  ^''^^''  ^^  Milwaukee  Journal, 
The  Omaha  World-Herald,  and  The  Des  Moines  Capitol 
Kkewse  needs  no  introduction   to   the  advertising 

Starting  on  The  Brooklyn  Eagle,  he  rose  to  be  ad- 
vertising manager  and  then  came  to  The  New  York 
Gtote  m  the  same  position.  Mr.  O'Mara,  feeling 
that  the  selling  of  advertising  for  a  single  newspaper 
was  not  big  enough  work,  entered  the  special  field 
taking  as  a  partner  Malcolm  Ormsbee 

JH^l}"^  ^^  Z°"}  ^^^^  '^  P^^^^'^  by  the  fact  that 
both  The  New  York  Globe  and  Brooklyn  Eagle,  two 
evening  newspapers  in  the  same  city,  and  on  both 
of  which  he  had  worked,  have  continuously  employed 
His  farm  to  represent  them  in  the  foreign  field 

Mr.  O'Mara's  methods  are  along  lines  of  patient 
and  mtelhgent  presentation  of  the  case  of  the  news- 
paper he  IS  representing  to  the  space-buyer.  John 
toows  his  papers,  their  purposes,  their  strength,  and 
their  weaJcnesses,  and  has  the  respect  of  the  buyers 
ot  advertising  all  over  the  country. 


JOHN   E.    o'mARA 

Of  O'Mara  &  Ormsbee,    A  special  representative  of  sound  training  and  great 

effectiveness. 


ornm 


If 


! 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      315 
^1.  SS=  Z  X  -^,  -  .t*:  "J:  -- 

puDlication  so  dominates  its  field  a<;  tn  r,U  f-    ,, 
eliminate  competition;   if  such  a  pub Hsle/or'"^^ 

adv^tistf  '""™-  "°^  *^  --^™  vow  5 

tha;'dts"ix:yToHcitri?7t;r'^  ^^--^^ 

local  advertising  staff  is  as  ^Y.n  ^  ^^^^     ^ 

successful  existence?  a  pape^as  t"'''''^^  '"  *^ 
staff,  and  will  always  conSe  to  be  soT^r"^"^^'" 
papers  seU  to  the  retailer  .t  f  1°"^  ^^  "^^s- 

fifth  of  the  inanSS/ LS^'CIf '  *V"" 
good  salesmanship  in  t£  naS.l  ^^  ^  ^^  °^^^  ^°'- 
essential.  A  local  merchant  is"  .;'  "''""  '"^'"^ 
with  reasonable  accuTacv  of  tV  T"'*'''"  *°  J^^^g^ 
media,  but  how  can  rt7  °t*^^  values  of  his  home 

do  so  at.  ay T  thou  and  T'^"^""'^'^^^  ^°P«  ^ 
uring  plant?  It  seemTl  f  ^'■°'"  '^^^  manufact- 
volum^  of  sales  caZt  ^^^°^*  "f  ^less  to  say  that 
If  such  were  the  case  t  ^^.'^f^}>y  correspondence, 
now  paid  to  XnerickS  f  r^'  °^  '"""^"^  ^^  dollars 

be  immediateirLTed      Sr         "^  *°"  "^  '"'^  ^^"^'^ 
for  pubhshers'  reprlsent.t      '""^^f^'"  the  necessity 

"The  bulk  of  wTIh    1'-'°  '''"  °^*'°"^1  fi^ld- 
ot  foreign  advertismg  cannot  be  secured 


li 


i! 


li 


tl 


!t 


316      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

by  newspapers  without  them,  and  this  situation  will 
remain  unchanged  till  the  government  assumes  con- 
trol of  all  publications  and  pools  their  interests  as  it 
has  done  with  the  railroads.  Taking  it  for  granted, 
however,  that  the  publisher's  representative  of  any 
newspaper  earns  his  remuneration  by  properly  pre- 
senting the  merits  of  his  publication  to  regular  ad- 
vertisers, the  functions  of  the  publisher's  represent- 
ative do  not  end  there.  Newspaper  advertising  has 
steadily  increased  for  many  years.  In  the  last  half- 
dozen  years  this  increase  has  shown  wonderful  growth. 
And  it  has  been  possible  only  because  of  the 
intelligent,  persistent,  and  constructive  work  done 
by  the  publisher's  representative  not  only  with  the 
advertising  agents,  but  direct  with  the  greatest  busi- 
ness interests  in  the  country. 

"The  publisher's  representative  not  only  secures 
the  advertising  already  in  existence  for  his  papers,  but 
is  constantly  creating  new  advertisers.  Convincing 
manufacturers  of  the  superior  advantage  of  localized 
over  scattering  pubHcity,  and  then  demonstrating 
the  pre-eminent  sales  power  of  newspapers  over  all 
other  forms  of  local  pubHcity.  The  pubHsher's  repre- 
sentative not  only  sells  the  individual  papers,  but 
newspapers  as  a  whole.  He  sells  his  territory  with 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  trade  conditions  therein. 
The  publisher's  representative  is  responsible  for  the 
establishment  in  many  newspaper  offices  of  local 
service  departments  which  have  made  possible  the 
opening  of  new  fields  to  hundreds  of  manufacturers. 

**In  the  national  field  the  publisher's  representative 
is  as  directly  connected  with  his  paper  as  is  any 
member  of  the  local  advertising  department.  The 
publisher's  representative  is  in  reality  the  manager 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      317 

of  the  foreign  department,  and  differs  from  the  local 
advertising  manager  only  in  that  the  paper  permits 
him  to  represent  one  or  more  uncompetitive  publica- 
tions. Such  a  list,  if  wisely  selected,  adds  to  the 
strength  of  every  paper  therein  and  gives  the  pub- 
lisher's representative  the  opportunity  to  render  to 
his  papers  an  efficient  national  service  at  a  cost  far 
less  per  paper  than  such  service  could  possibly  be 
secured  by  any  publication  that  was  handled  indi- 
vidually in  the  national  field. 

"The  publisher's  representative  is  indispensable  in 
no  small  way  to  the  publisher  and  to  the  advertiser 
and  agent  as  well  in  promoting  and  maintaining 
cordial  relations,  otherwise  subject  to  strain  by  diverse 
viewpoints  due  to  lack  of  actual  contact.  The  ex- 
istence of  such  relations  is  a  means  of  greater  business 
to  the  publisher  and  agent  and  greater  results  to  the 
advertiser." 


hi 


!  f-l 


i 


1- 


XLIX 
Why  the  Special? — G.  Logan  Payne 

G.  Logan  Payne,  representing  a  group  of  smaller 
newspapers,  is  the  man  who  entered  the  newspaper 
business  as  projector  of  a  daily  in  a  town  of  6,000 
population.  That  he  made  a  success  of  his;  little 
paper  and  of  the  business  of  selling  foreign  adver- 
tising for  the  newspapers  he  has  had  on  his  list  goes 
without  saying. 

What  Mr.  Payne  says  regarding  the  desirability 
of  representation  for  newspapers  in  the  smaller  cities 
is  most  important.  He  knows.  His  statement  that 
a  good  special  can  double  the  foreign  business  in 
such  a  paper  in  two  years  is  merely  a  confession  from 
his  own  experience. 

"Let  me  preface  my  remarks  by  stating  that  if 
I  were  the  pubUsher  of  a  daily  newspaper  of  only 
3,000  circulation  I  would  have  a  special  repn^senta- 
tive  for  my  paper  and  the  best  one  possible  for  me  to 
obtain.  No  daily  newspaper  having  a  circulation  of 
3,000  or  more  can  afford  to  be  without  the  services 
of  a  representative.  A  good  special  representative — 
one  that  has  well-estabHshed  offices  in  the  principal 
centers  from  where  advertising  is  placed — 'wYio  is 
capable  of  taking  full  charge  of  foreign  or  national 


iil 
If 


G.    LOGAN   PAYNE 


mm 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     319 

advertising  of  that  paper  is  just  as  essential  to  the 
owner  of  the  pubHcation  as  a  local  advertising  or 
business  manager. 

"That  is  a  broad  statement,  and  if  not  properly- 
analyzed  would  seem  extremely  absurd — ^almost  foolish 
— to  the  average  publisher.  To  begin  with,  while  the 
average  volume  of  foreign  or  national  advertising  is 
about  30  per  cent,  of  the  total  advertising  Hneage 
carried  by  a  paper,  it  really  represents  about  50  per 
cent,  of  the  net  income.  Remember,  please,  that  a 
local  advertising  department  costs  about  four  times 
as  much  as  foreign  representation. 

"First:  There  must  be  an  advertising  manager 
and  at  least  two  or  three  solicitors  on  the  smaller 
daily,  ranging  from  eight  to  ten  on  the  larger  daily. 

"Second:  Local  advertising  matter  is  all  to  be 
set  and  then  corrected  after  proofs  are  read,  and  all 
at  quite  a  little  added  cost  to  the  paper,  while  90 
per  cent,  of  the  foreign  or  national  advertising  is 
sent  to  the  paper  either  in  mat  or  plate  form,  there 
being  little  or  no  composition. 

"Third :  While  a  number  of  the  large  metropolitan 
dailies  have  their  foreign  and  local  rate  card  on  the 
same  basis,  the  average  daily  paper  in  cities  from 
30,000  to  200,000  has  a  rate  which  is  accorded  de- 
partment stores,  which  is  on  an  average  of  from 
20  to  30  per  cent,  lower  than  the  foreign  or  national 
rate. 

"When  you  average  it  all  up,  even  though  the  vol- 
ume of  space  does  not  measure  up  to  the  local  Hneage, 
I  think  you  will  find  the  net  proceeds  from  the  foreign 
or  national  field  will  practically  equal  the  net  pro- 
ceeds of  the  local  advertising. 
^    *  'A  publisher  may  say :  *  Your  argument  is  all  right 


IJ 


^1! 


4^M 


320     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

from  your  viewpoint,  but  why  can't  I,  with  a  wide- 
awake advertising  manager,  secure  this  foreign  or 
national  advertising  without  the  aid  of  representa- 
tion by  covering  the  territory  occasionally  with  a 
personal  visit,  and  by  direct  selling  of  our  market 
to  agencies  and  national  advertisers?'  That  is  ab- 
solutely impossible. 

"Let's  presume,  for  instance,  that  the  advertising 
manager  of  the  publication  makes  one  trip  a  year 
into  the  foreign  field.  He  is  compelled  to  spend  at 
least  two  weeks  in  Chicago  and  nearby  territory, 
three  or  four  days  in  St.  Louis,  another  week  in  De- 
troit, two  or  three  weeks  in  New  York  and  a  week 
or  ten  days  in  New  England,  which  would  cover  a 
period  of  practically  two  and  a  half  months.  Before 
he  has  concluded  his  Eastern  itinerary  a  dozen  cam- 
paigns may  have  been  made  up  and  possibly  have 
appeared  while  he  is  in  the  East,  that  come  from  the 
West  and  were  formulated  after  he  left  the  Western 
territory  on  his  trip  and  which  he  knows  nothing 
about. 

"The  home  office  can  know  nothing  about  them 
because  they  have  no  way  of  obtaining  this  infor- 
mation until  they  have  seen  it  appear  in  neighboring 
city  papers  or  probably  in  the  paper  belonging  to 
their  competitor  who  has  live  up-to-date  represen- 
tation. Then  think  of  the  cost  of  this  special  trip. 
The  railroad  fare,  special  entertainment,  etc.,  and 
the  time  of  the  advertising  manager  who  is  away  from 
his  duties  at  home  and  the  time  lost  there  in  directing 
the  efforts  of  the  local  force,  probably  would  be  double 
the  cost  of  a  good  special,  and  he  cannot  secure  more 
than  60  per  cent,  of  the  business  that  a  good  live 
special  would  send  them. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      321 

'*You  ask,  'How  would  a  special  know?  he  is  not 
omniscient.'  He  is  constantly  in  touch  through  his 
different  offices  and  through  his  men  on  the  road 
the  minute  a  new  campaign  is  contemplated.  He 
sells  in  advance — before  the  door  is  closed — his  market 
and  his  publication. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  the  most  perfect  illustration 
that  I  can  possibly  give  of  the  service  of  a  special 
representative  and  what  they  can  do  for  their  pub- 
lishers is  best  illustrated  by  my  own  experience  and 
my  study  of  foreign  or  national  advertising. 

"I  had  to  leave  the  Wesley  an  University  in  Iowa 
in  my  sophomore  year  when  I  was  nineteen  years  old, 
and  always  having  had  an  insane  desire  to  become  the 
owner  of  a  daily  newspaper,  I  started  one  in  Wash- 
ington, Iowa,  a  town  of  less  than  6,000  population. 
I  started  it  on  extreme  nerve  and  $1,400,  and  by 
working  day  and  night  and  filHng  the  different  offices 
of  City  Editor,  Managing  Editor,  Reporter,  Society 
Reporter,  Bookkeeper,  Auditor,  etc. 

"I  really  made  a  success  of  it  and  in  five  years' 
time  had  made  a  record  in  both  circulation  and  ad- 
vertising that  attracted  state-wide  attention,  and  was 
made  secretary  of  the  Iowa  Evening  Press  Associa- 
tion. At  these  meetings  of  Iowa's  dailies  we  always 
discussed  the  ways  and  means  of  securing  national 
Hues  of  advertising  that  the  large  city  papers  and  the 
many  national  mediums  were  obtaining  and  always 
at  these  meetings — which,  mind  you,  were  over  seven- 
teen years  ago,  when  there  were  few  specials  in  the 
game— I  advocated  the  theory  of  having  a  good  man 
to  establish  offices  in  Chicago  and  New  York  to 
represent  us. 

"After  selling  my  daily  newspaper  I  came  to  Chi^ 


!     11 


•mKm 


I 


, 


322      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

cago  for  broader  experience  with  the  thought  in  mind 
of  not  remaining  here,  but  to  gain  experience  and  go 
back  and  buy  a  larger  and  more  important  daily 
newspaper  in  Iowa.  My  experience  was  with  The 
Chicago  Journal  under  the  best  training  ever  given 
a  young  man— Mr.  John  Hunter,  now  connected  with 
your  splendid  medium.  I  was  always  hungry,  really 
hungry  for  work,  and  Mr.  Hunter,  after  I  had  gained 
much  experience  in  the  local  field,  permitted  me  to 
handle  some  of  the  less  important  matters  with  the 
agencies  in  the  foreign  field.  I  was  successful  in 
getting  in  some  of  these  smaller  national  accounts 
for  the  Journal  in  calHng  on  the  advertiser  director 
and  the  solicitor  of  the  agency  handHng  the  account, 
and  I  could  readily  see  why  our  Iowa  papers  did  not 
get  in  on  them;  simply  lack  of  representation. 

"Having  gone  as  far  as  I  could  on  that  paper,  in 
other  words,  having  gotten  to  where  I  was  sort  of 
assistant  to  the  business  manager,  I  changed  my 
mind  about  going  back  in  the  Iowa  field,  and  one 
day  I  said  to  Mr.  Hunter:  'I  am  going  to  offer  my 
resignation,  and  with  your  permission  dictate  a  letter 
to  the  evening  newspapers  of  Iowa  asking  them  to 
appoint  me  as  their  representative  of  Iowa's  Leading 
DaiHes.'  My  letter  was  addressed  to  the  principal 
papers  of  our  old  association  and  practically  all  of 

them  responded.  i_i.  i.  j 

"In  less  than  five  years'  time  I  not  only  estabhshed 
a  good  rate  for  these  pubUcations,  but  carried  90 
per  cent,  of  all  national  advertising  going  out  even  to 
the  big  city  papers;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  by  that 
special  effort  centraUzed  on  these  pubUcations,  I  had 
the  agencies  both  East  and  West  use  Iowa's  Leadmg 
Dailies   on   experimental  accounts,   because  of  the 


i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     323 

special  co-operation  that  the  publishers  offered  them, 
and  it  got  to  be  sort  of  a  slogan:  'If  you  don't  know 
where  to  start  with  a  daily  newspaper  campaign 
"Try  it  on  the  Dog,"  Iowa's  Leading  Dailies.'  That 
seems  to  me  to  be  most  positive  and  concrete  evi- 
dence of  the  value  of  a  special  representative. 

"In  closing  permit  me  to  say  that  no  daily  of  any 
importance  can  afford  to  be  without  representation, 
and  that  any  daily,  large  or  small,  can  double  their 
foreign  business  in  a  period  of  two  years  if  they  will 
properly  co-operate  with  their  representative  and 
support  him  in  the  right  manner  by  answering  prompt- 
ly all  inquiries  and  keeping  him  well  informed  as  to 
the  market  conditions  and  changed  conditions  and 
the  growth  of  the  city  and  community  wherein  the 
paper  is  published." 


! 


{ 


I 


r 


Mutual  Confidence  the  Keynote.— R.  E.  Ward. 

Robert  E.  Ward,  with  offices  in  New  York  and 
Chicago,  has  specialized  in  representing  in  the  foreign 
field  a  strong  group  of  Ohio  newspapers  known  as 
the  ''Ohio  Select  List."  I  have  known  Mr.  Ward  for 
many  years  and  have  watched  his  work,  which  has 
been  consistent  and  dependable  for  his  newspapers. 

I  asked  Mr.  Ward  to  give  me  a  short  contribution, 
which  I  am  presenting  in  his  words : 

"Soliciting  of  national  advertising  is  becoming  al- 
most as  specialized  as  some  of  the  other  professions, 
and  the  organization  that  represents  newspapers  pub- 
lished in  the  smaller  cities  makes  a  different^  appeal, 
and  provides  somewhat  different  service  to  its  pub- 
Hshers,  than  those  who   soHcit   for   the  larger-city 

newspapers.  .  . 

"Advertisers  and  agencies  gain  their  impression  ot 
the  smaller-city  and  less  famiHar  newspapers  from 
the  publisher's  representative  himself,  and  for  that 
reason  the  qualified  soHcitor  saturates  himself  with 
the  local  situation  by  personal  visits  and  frecjuent 
queries  and  investigation,  all  of  which  give  his  daily 
work  authority,  conviction,  interest,  and  freshn<3ss  of 

appeal.  .         . 

"The  recognition  of  agencies  and  the  question  ot 


R.    E.    WARD 


I«li 

!«'< 


mt 


I  ' 


i       ! 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     325 

credits  and  collections  is  unusually  important  for 
this  class  of  representative,  because  the  smaller  pub- 
lisher is  not  as  closely  in  touch  with  general  agents, 
because  he  has  a  smaller  amount  of  business  and  less 
frequent  relations  with  them  than  do  the  larger  pub- 
lishers. Therefore,  the  representative  must  be  fully 
alive  to  those  features  all  the  time. 

"While  the  representative  spends  a  great  deal  of 
time  looking  after  copy,  electrotypes,  schedules,  sup- 
plying rate  cards,  circulation  statements,  checking 
copies,  etc.,  those  functions  are  of  secondary  im- 
portance compared  to  the  creative  work  he  does  with 
the  general  advertisers  and  the  general  agents. 

"This  intensive  development  of  additional  business 
takes  two  forms;  first,  the  representative  increases 
the  amount  of  space  being  used  by  present  advertisers 
through  the  co-operation,  the  stimulating  of  new 
ideas,  and  strong  personal  work. 

"Probably  the  most  important  feature  of  the  crea- 
tive work  is  what  the  representative  does  with  new 
advertisers  who  have  never  been  in  his  publisher's 
coltunns  before.  That  is  the  basis  of  the  publisher's 
judgment  as  to  the  representative's  effectiveness,  and 
is  the  source  of  the  greatest  satisfaction  and  financial 
income  to  the  representative  himself. 

"The  representative  constantly  suggests  to  his  pub- 
lisher the  proper  form  of  circular  matter  to  be  used, 
and,  being  on  the  firing-line,  he  knows  what  sort  of 
printed  appeal  makes  the  strongest  impression  with 
the  advertiser  and  agent  and  is  the  most  timely. 
He  reports  to  the  publisher  prospects  for  local  co- 
operative work,  suggesting  products  and  surveys, 
and  how  the  publisher  can  go  about  furnishing  the 
advertiser  with  a  better  local  service. 


I 


i    : 


Hi  Hi' 


II 


326     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"The  representative  watches  his  competition  and 
papers  in  near-by  territory  for  matters  of  policy,  rates, 
methods,  etc.,  that  he  may  suggest  to  his  publisher 
the  necessary  changes  to  keep  his  particular  news- 
paper in  line  or  in  advance  of  what  is  done  by  other 
smaller  and  near-by  newspapers. 

"The  publisher  supports  his  representative  by 
frequent  voluntary  letters  of  information  regarding 
local  conditions,  the  prosperity  of  his  community 
and  trading  territory,  the  development  of  industry, 
increase  of  pay-rolls,  and  anything  that  increases 
buying  or  trading  possibilities.  The  publisher  issues 
from  time  to  time  well-prepared  printed  matter,  sup- 
plementing and  amplifying  what  the  representative 
does.  He  issues  circulation  statements,  comparative 
advertising  records,  etc.,  for  the  representative  to 
use  and  distribute  by  hand  while  he  is  calling  on 
advertisers  personally.  In  some  instances  the  pub- 
lisher can  do  a  great  deal  of  good  by  visiting  the 
national  advertisers  from  time  to  time  in  company 
with  his  representative. 

"The  publisher  reports  to  the  representative  when 
salesmen,  representing  national  advertisers,  have 
visited  his  city,  and  he  learns  from  the  dealers  just 
what  the  salesmen  have  outlined  as  to  the  advertis- 
ing policy  of  their  respective  manufacturers,  and  he 
also  furnishes  the  representative  with  copies  or  infor- 
mation taken  from  letters  sent  by  manufacturers 
to  local  dealers  announcing  forthcoming  advertising 
campaigns. 

"The  publisher  avoids  hampering  the  work  of  the 
representative,  arising  from  arguments  and  differ- 
ences of  opinion  with  agents  and  advertisers.  When 
such  instances  arise,  as  they  inevitably  do,  the  pub- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      327 

lisher  refers  the  whole  matter  to  the  representative 
for  adjustment,  knowing  that  a  few  properly  selected 
words,  delivered  personally,  are  greatly  preferred  to 
bitter  letters. 

"The  relationship  between  the  publisher  and  the 
representative  must  be  close  and  based  on  mutual 
confidence,  because  their  interests  are  mutual  and 
nothing  is  effective  without  the  other." 


ifv 


i    I 


LI 

Assisting  Space-buyers.— Charles  H.  Eddy 

Charles  H.  Eddy,  Ukewise  representing  a  wide 
group  of  important  small  city  newspapers,  is  a  man 
standing  absolutely  at  the  top  of  the  ladder  in  his 
line  of  activity,  and  is  known  throughout  the  adver- 
tising field  as  a  tireless  worker  and  a  man  of  absolute 
dependability. 

Mr.  Eddy  touches  upon  phases  of  work  coming 
withm  the  scope  of  the  service  rendered  the  news- 
paper which  IS  most  interesting  and  informatory  to 
those  who  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  speci^J  does 
not  earn  his  salary  or  other  compensation : 

fi,  wu'"  ^"  experience  of  many  years,  I  am  convinced 
that  the  competent  'special'  renders  a  service  to  the 
newspaper,  the  general  agency,  and  the  advertiser 
^ch  could  not  be  secured  so  economically  or 
efficiently  by  any  other  means. 

"The  'special'  enables  the  pubUsher  to  extend  his 
personality  everywhere  outside  the  home  field,  where 
national  advertising  is  to  be  secured.  He  gets  his  pub- 
lisher s  message  over  as  he  wants  it  put  over 

He  is  provided  with  complete  information  and 
data  regarding  his  newspaper  and  its  home  city,  and 
presents  his  case  to  the  advertiser,  or  to  the  agency 


I 


i!| 


CHARLES   H.    EDDY 


m 


I.** 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      329 

exactly  as  his  publisher  would  do  were  it  possible  for 
him  personally  to  canvass  the  foreign  advertising 
field. 

"The  'special*  is  of  constant  assistance  to  agency 
space-buyers,  who  are  frequently  overburdened  with 
the  mass  of  detail  which  their  work  of  dealing  with 
thousands  of  publications  entails.  He  stands  ready 
to  furnish  all  necessary  information  in  regard  to  his 
newspaper  and  its  field  to  facilitate  the  space-buyers' 
work. 

"In  numerous  instances  the  'special'  is  required 
to  canvass  the  sales  of  advertising  manager  as  well  as 
the  agency,  and  inform  him  fully  as  to  the  claims  of 
his  newspaper  and  its  home  city. 

"After  securing  the  advertising  contract  the  *  spe- 
cial '  is  expected  to  see  that  the  necessary  instructions 
and  copy  reach  the  paper,  that  the  advertiser  or 
agency  is  furnished  with  copies  containing  the  adver- 
tising, and  to  handle  any  -complaints  as  to  service 
until  the  order  is  completed. 

"The  *  special*  also  acts  as  a  collector  of  delin- 
quent accounts  and  keeps  his  home  office  informed 
as  to  credit  conditions  which  may  concern  the  inter- 
ests of  his  newspaper. 

"More  and  more  the  selling  of  newspaper  adver- 
tising trends  toward  the  elimination  of  competition 
between  the  various  newspapers  in  a  city,  and  to  the 
selling  of  the  city  itself  to  the  advertiser  as  a  desir- 
able market  for  his  goods.  This  is  promotion  work 
for  the  home  city,  and  much  of  the  effort  of  the 
'special'  representative  is  devoted  to  this  work. 

"All  of  the  foregoing  represents  a  personal  service 
to  the  individual  newspaper  which  is  performed  by 
the  'special'  representative  and  which  coiUd  not  be 


Hill  I 


illlli'l 


<n  i 


1 


i^ 


■l»i-^ 


330      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

rendered  so  economically  or  with  such  satisfactory 
results  by  any  other  agency. 

*'To  perform  this  service  a  complete  organization 
is  necessary,  as  the  field  is  wide,  embracing  the  whole 
United  States,  with  the  number  of  advertisers  and 
agencies  to  be  covered  running  into  the  thousands. 
This  makes  a  vast  amount  of  work  for  the  'special' 
who  thoroughly  covers  the  field.  He  must  command 
a  highly  trained  staff  of  solicitors  and  office  help  and 
must  maintain  offices  in  New  York  and  Chicago,  and 
possibly  other  cities  in  order  to  render  this  wide- 
spread service  to  his  newspaper. 

*' Altogether,  the  'special'  is,  and  has  been,  one  of 
the  prime  factors  in  building  up  the  business  of  news- 
paper advertising,  and  he  will,  I  beHeve,  so  continue. 

**The  closer  the  co-operation  between  the  agency, 
the  advertiser,  and  the  'special,'  and  the  higher  the 
business  standard  of  their  deahngs  with  each  other, 
the  better  will  be  the  results  to  the  great  business  of 
national  newspaper  advertising.** 


PART  ri 


LII 

New  Sort  of  Co-operation  with  Advertising  Agencies 
and   Words  oj  Advice  jrom  Notable  Agents 

The  design  of  this  part  of  the  book  was  to  provide 
an  opportunity  for  those  generally  accepted  as  leaders 
in  best  agency  thought  briefly  to  show  the  newspaper 
publisher  how  through  greater  co-operation  with  the 
agencies  he  could  help  develop  new  business. 

^  Since  writing  the  earlier  chapters  regarding  agen- 
cies and  plans  for  developing  more  advertising  for 
the  newspapers,  it  has  been  my  advantage  through 
close  contact  with  many  of  the  leading  agents  to  dis- 
cover the  fatal  weakness  which  for  years  has  kept 
newspapers  from  their  full  share  of  national  ad- 
vertising. 

^  The  failure  of  newspapers  generally  to  pay  adver- 
tising agents  a  commission  on  "local"  as  well  as 
* 'foreign"  business  in  my  opinion  is  more  largely  re- 
sponsible for  their  failure  to  get  all  the  business  they 
should  than  any  other  factor. 

Hundreds  of  advertising  agents  located  in  cities 
all  over  the  country  who  should  be  primarily  inter- 
ested in  developing  "local"  accounts  in  the  news- 
papers which  would  gradually  grow  into  sectional 
accounts  and  then  national,  cannot  afford  to  do  so, 
because   the  newspapers  fail   to  arrange   conditions 

24  * 


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What  advertisers  think  of  a  newspaper 
is  more  interesting  than  what  the  paper 
thinks  of  itself.  And  when  such  thought 
happens  to  be  expressed  in  terms  of 
dollars  spent  for  advertising  space  — 
there   can  be   no   question   of  its  sincerity. 


16  of  New  York's  Leading  Retail  Stores 


Here  they  are: 

Altman  &•  Co. 

Arnold,  Constable  6*  Co. 

Best  &•  Co. 

Bloomingdale  Bros. 

Bonwit  Teller  &•  Co. 

J.  M.  adding  &*  Co. 

Cimbel  Brothers 

Hearn 

Lord  &•  Taylor. 

R.  //.  Macy  &  Co. 

Oppenheim  &•  Collins 

Franklin  Simon  6*  Co. 

Stern  Bros. 

Stewart  6*  Co. 

Worth  

John  Wanamaker  ^     ,       . 

To   be    the    choice    of    one    or    two    such 

shrewd  buyers  of  advertising  space  would 

be  a  compliment  to  any  paper,  even  though 

incondusive  as  to  that  paper's  leadership. 

But  to  be  chosen  by  sixteen  such  merchants 

— Surely    That     Is    Proof    Positive! 

• 

Write  for  facts  and  figures  that  tell  why  THE  GLOBE  offers 
the  best  opportunity  for  reaching  the  one-tenth  of  NEW 
YORK'S  people  with  money  to  buy  goods. 


used  a  larger  volume  of  advertis- 
ing in  the  New  York  GLOBE  dur- 
ing the  past  five  years  than  in  any 
other  New  York  paper. 

Why  did  these  leading  stores 

Use  More  Advertising 
in  the  Globe? 

There  is  only  one  possible  answer. 


fl 


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(j^lnht 


America's  Oldest  and  Most  Virile  Daily  Evening  Newspaper 
73^3  Dey  Street  JASON  ROGERS, 


NEW  YORK 


PUBLISHER 


This  advertisement  won  $iooo,  the  first  prize  in  the  Globe's  Advertising  Agency 
Competition.    It  was  prepared  by  C.  W.  Page,  ofC.  W.  Page  &  Co.,  Richmond,  Va. 


li    I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      335 

so  that  the  agent  will  be  compensated  for  the  service 
he  renders. 

The  agent  is  forced  to  charge  local  advertisers  using 
local  newspapers  a  service  charge  on  top  of  the  gross 
rate  of  the  newspaper,  which  the  advertiser  naturally 
resents,  and  more  often  than  not  the  newspapers  do 
everything  they  can  to  ehminate  the  agent  from  the 
relation  which  he  has  established. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  agents  in  most 
places  find  themselves  working  for  business  for  maga- 
zines and  general  mediums  which  pay  them  a  com- 
mission or  give  them  a  net  rate  on  business  which  they 
stimulate,  handle,  underwrite,  and  care  for. 

Therefore  we  as  newspaper  publishers  must  change 
our  business  policy  and  allow  these  developers  of 
business  to  secure  a  brokerage  fee  between  the  net 
rate  we  must  receive  and  the  gross  rate  to  be  paid 
by  the  advertiser,  if  we  are  to  get  the  faciHty  of  this 
powerful  selling  factor. 

Here  in  New  York  our  newspapers  for  years  have 
allowed  commissions  to  agents  on  both  local  and 
foreign,  and  I  have  always  had  our  rates  the  same  for 
both  local  and  general  advertising. 

In  July,  1918,  I  started  a  campaign  of  education 
among  newspaper  pubHshers  urging  them  to  go  and 
do  likewise,  and  thus  set  loose  as  selling  agents  of 
newspaper  advertising  these  hundreds  of  men  best 
qualified  to  produce  results  for  those  who  buy  space 
in  our  columns. 

I  am  reproducing  some  of  the  advertisements  which 
we  printed  in  the  trade  papers  in  this  section  of  the 
book. 

Even  where  newspapers  are  not  disposed  to  allow 
agents  a  commission  on  local  business,  it  strikes  me 


li 


^ 


!llii!'f 


t)     i 


i  f 


336      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

as  absurd  that  they  should  stand  in  their  own  light 
by  refusing  to  pay  him  his  fee  on  business  coming 
from  an  outside  manufactiu*er  hooked  up  to  names 
of  local  dealers. 

A  leading  agent  recently  told  me  that  he  had 
switched  $100,000  of  a  $300,000  account  from  the 
magazines  to  the  newspapers  and  lost  $13,000  in 
commissions  as  a  reward,  because  the  newspapers  had 
refused  to  pay  him  commission  on  the  business  in- 
serted over  the  names  of  local  dealers. 

Localized  National  Advertising  is  newspaper  ad- 
vertising linked  up  to  the  names  of  local  dealers, 
and  is  the  most  effective  form  of  printed  salesman- 
ship. The  advertising  agent  who  prepares  the  cam- 
paign, gets  up  the  cuts,  and  devotes  the  energies  of 
his  organization  to  the  selling-plan,  is  certainly  en- 
titled to  compensation. 

For  best  resiilts  the  medium  should  sell  its  prod- 
uct— advertising — for  the  same  price  under  like  con- 
ditions to  all  customers,  whether  local  or  distant. 
By  protecting  agents  on  all  business  nmning  less  than, 
say,  25,000  lines  a  year,  the  newspapers  would  be 
bringing  to  their  aid  powerful  promotional  forces  of 
limitless  potential. 

If  our  friends,  the  advertising  agents,  would  bill 
all  space  at  the  newspapers'  gross  rate,  and  our 
newspapers  would  consider  their  "net"  rate  after 
allowance  of  commission  their  real  rate,  much  need- 
less confusion  would  be  avoided  in  closer  co-operation 
in  other  directions  produced. 

In  going  over  the  figiu*es  of  a  small  city  newspaper 
doing  an  advertising  business  of  $265,000  a  year,  I 
ran  across  the  item,  $13,000  '* commission,"  as  an 
expense.    If  he  had  entered  his  earnings  at  $252,000 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     337 

from  advertising,  he  would  not  worry  about  the 
imaginary  payment  of  commission. 

The  advertiser  pays  both  "our  net  rate"  and  "the 
agent's  commission." 

By  closer  and  more  harmonious  relations  with  the 
dependable  service  agents  of  the  country  our  news- 
papers will  not  only  increase  the  volume  of  business 
in  their  columns,  but  be  making  the  advertising  which 
they  print  more  resourceful. 

The  contributions  in  this  part  from  leading  agents, 
and  their  views  as  expressed  in  speeches  before  ad- 
vertising clubs,  etc.,  regarding  effective  co-operation, 
will  be  found  most  instructive  and  interesting. 


I! 


^a^^^B'T 


ill  ii 


t  i 


LIII 

The  Advanced  Agency  Service  of  To-day.— 

Robert  Tinsman 

Robert  Tinsman,  president  of  the  Federal  Adver- 
tising Agency,  New  York  and  Chicago,  in  response 
to  niy  invitation  to  contribute  a  paper  on  moderi 
agenw  service,  has  produced  the  most  comprehensive 
presentation  of  the  case  to  be  found  anywhere^ 

Mr  Tinsman  is  an  advertising  man  of  sound  and 
most  effective  experience,  who  when  he  takes  on 
an  account  renders  a  sort  and  degree  of  service  that 
is  far  and  beyond  the  power  of  mere  money  to  buy^ 
He  is  a  close  student  of  merchandise  and  human 
nature  and  knows  how  to  ring  the  bell  time  after 

^"we  will  let  Mr.  Tinsman  tell  his  own  story: 

"'Service'  is  a  well-worn,  much  abused  word  in 
advertising  parlance.  It  should  be  hitched  to  its 
yokefellow  'co-operation,'  and  the  team  driven  off 
the  dock.  The  language  of  advertising  would  be  the 
gainer  thereby,  for  then  we  would  have  to  search 
sincerely  for  new  words,  more  expressive  of  to-day  s 
thought  in  advertising  practice.  ,     •,        : 

"The  last  ten  years  have  witnessed  a  marked  revi- 
sion in  the  agency  method.    We  all  know  the  evolu- 


ti 


HI 


ROBERT  TINSMAN 

President  of  the  Federal  Advertising  Agency,  New  York  City. 


itiilill 


i^lili'i 


1' 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      339 

tion  of  the  agency— first  the  space  broker,  then  the 
space  filler,  and  finally  the  merchandise  advertiser  of 

to-day. 

"This  evolution  has  brought  us  to  a  point  where 
an  advertising  agent,  to  be  truly  successful,  must  be 
able  to  advise  authoritatively  on  merchandizing  mat- 
ters as  well  as  on  the  selection  of  media  or  the  prep- 
aration of  advertisements. 

"He  must  be  able  to  analyze  market  conditions 
and  draw  deductions  therefrom;  he  must  be  qualified 
to  organize  seUing  and  advertising  campaigns  to  the 
trade,  understanding  the  particular  approach  most 
effective  in  each  special  industry;  he  must  be  able 
to  create  names  for  most  effective  appeal  for  each 
product  and  to  each  audience.  Also,  he  must  origi- 
nate packages  to  outshine  competition,  whether  it 
be  a  tin  can  on  a  grocery  shelf,  a  perfumery  package 
on  a  druggist's  counter,  or  a  silk  wrapper  in  a  dry- 
goods  store. 

"Thus,  you  see,  it  is  not  sufficient  for  an  advertis- 
ing agent  merely  to  be  a  good  general  advertiser.  He 
should  be  a  speciaUst  in  each  trade  and  know  a  great 
deal  about  something  rather  than  a  little  about  every- 
thing, otherwise  he  is  apt  to  scatter  the  shot  aimlessly, 
or  miss  the  mark  altogether. 

"The  successful  agent  generally  knows  how  to 
handle  salesmen  for  his  cHents,  how  to  enthuse  them 
for  the  campaign  about  to  be  conducted,  how  to 
answer  their  questions  when  they  want  to  know  how 
to  sell  reluctant  trade,  and  how  to  communicate  the 
poHcy  of  the  cHents'  business  with  the  salesmen  so 
as  to  develop  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the  house  and 
thereby  make  the  trade-mark  advertising  increasingly 
resultful. 


t^ 


340      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

*'In  addition  to  all  this,  the  agent's  work  to-day 
comprehends  a  far  closer  analysis  of  the  power  of 
media  than  was  hitherto  thought  necessary — not  only 
circulation,  but  the  character  of  circulation,  its  di- 
vision into  class  and  mass  appeal,  its  sex,  age,  and 
racial  percentage — all  this  must  now  enter  into  the 
discussion  before  the  space  allotment  is  made. 

"Finally  the  advertising  itself,  not  merely  a  pretty 
picture  and  clever  text,  but  an  interrupting  idea  that 
dominates  the  space  and  memorizes  itself  with  even 
the  careless  reader  so  that  each  advertisement  repeat- 
ing this  interrupting  idea  accumulates  an  investment 
value  that  the  old-fashioned  general  publicity  adver- 
tisement never  did. 

**  Of  course  the  production  of  such  interrupting  ideas, 
harmonious  with  the  product  advertised,  calls  for  a 
creative  sense  of  the  highest  development,  requires 
an  artistic  presentation  of  extraordinary  force  and 
sensible  originality,  and,  finally,  a  copy  or  text  treat- 
ment quite  different  from  the  old-time  rewrite  effort 
of  the  copy  hack. 

"Such  advertising  possesses  a  sparkling  brilliancy 
and  permanent  interest  that  multiplies  results  far 
above  the  usual,  but  the  casual  reader  does  not  ap- 
preciate the  infinite  time,  patience,  experience,  and 
research  involved  in  its  production. 

"As  to  the  newspaper's  part  in  agency  service,  I 
would  suggest  the  following: 

''First,  let  the  newspapers  study  the  personnel  and 
qualifications  of  each  agency.  Then  when  any  new 
account  is  started,  the  newspaper  will  be  able  to  ad- 
vise the  advertiser  which  agents  should  be  consid- 
ered, and  then  the  advertiser  can  make  his  own  com- 
parisons,    This  will  eliminate  most  of  the  mistakes 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      341 

due  to   the    careless   recommendation   of   misguided 
acquaintance. 

''Second,  the  newspapers  should  know  a  lot  more 
about  an  account  before  soliciting  it,  so  as  to  make 
recommendations  both  suitable  and  sensible.  This 
requires  advance  application  and  some  study,  but  it 
will  pay  in  the  long  run. 

"  Third,  the  newspaper  is  in  a  position  to  render  un- 
usual service,  which  often  is  the  most  valuable  intro- 
duction to  an  account.  For  example.  The  New  York 
Globe  assisted  the  Federal  Advertising  Agency  in 
securing  the  custom  and  friendship  of  the  hair-dressers, 
which  led  to  The  Globe's  securing  the  advertising  of 
Fashionette  Invisible  Hair  Nets.  So  when  a  news- 
.  paper  carries  business,  it  might  show  some  concern 
to  make  extra  good  for  that  business  by  reason  of  its 
connections,  such  as  the  service  rendered  Mallinson's 
.Silks  de  Luxe  by  The  Globe  when  they  secured  adver- 
tising of  Mallinson's  Silks  de  Luxe  from  the  New  York 
merchants,  using  same  to  accompany  the  Mallinson 
advertising  in  their  fashion  issues. 

"Fourth,  in  the  make-up  of  the  newspaper  there  is 
also  lots  of  room  for  improvement.  If  the  make-up 
man  has  some  advertising  sense  as  well  as  typographi- 
cal skill,  he  will  not  only  see  to  it  that  the  page  is  a 
good  type  balance,  but  also  that  the  advertising  is 
placed,  if  possible,  where  it  will  secure  some  addi- 
tional advantage,  running  near  reading  matter  of 
similar  interest.  This  is  a  rule  that  the  magazines 
observe  with  great  profit,  but  which  the  newspapers 
.overlook  even  when  it  is  possible,  as  is  frequently 
the  case. 

"Fifth,  the  most  interesting  development  in  news- 
paper service  is  the  newspaper's  power  to  act  as  a 


<  ''I 

I 


till 


ifHfili 


llfil 

IIMI 


342      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

go-between  with  the  national  advertiser  and  the  retail 
trade.  Here  is  indeed  a  place  for  great  and  profitable 
development  which  the  newspaper  is  in  a  position  to 
fill  as  no  other  medium. 

"With  the  new  advertiser  particularxy,  emphasis, 
reiterated  emphasis,  should  always  be  placed  on  the 
value  of  repetition,  the  keep-at-it  policy  that  is  the 
first  fundamental  for  the  beginner's  success. 

"Finally,  the  newspaper  should  present  its  circula- 
tion, preferably  audited  by  an  independent  concern 
such  as  the  A.  B.  C,  and  classified  not  only  to  show 
the  distribution  of  its  circulation  exactly,  but  also  its 
character  down  to  the  most  precise  detail. 

"The  flat  rate,  simplified  rate  card,  the  A.  B.  C. 
*.udit,  and  a  definite  help  policy,  as  outlined  above, 
all  combined  in  one  newspaper,  must  mean  success 
for  its  advertisers,  leadership  for  itself." 


t   I 


LIV 

Co-operation. — Stanley  Resor 

Superficial  temporary  outside  service  which  a  pub- 
lisher's Production  Department  can  give  an  advertiser 
does  not  constitute,  from  the  agent's  point  of  view, 
any  part  of  the  real  value  of  the  paper  as  an  adver- 
tising medium.  The  paper's  value  can  be  determined 
only  by  fundamentals  of  service  which  I  shall  outline. 

The  extent  to  which  agents  avail  themselves  of 
many  of  the  forms  of  co-operation  offered  to-day  is 
no  indication  of  the  value  they  set  upon  them.  As 
buyers,  we  have  taken,  and  shall  continue  to  take, 
much  that  is  offered  because  it  is  included  in  the  rate. 
It  must  be  paid  for,  anyway,  and  whatever  of  value 
it  may  contain  is  used.  We  should  be  quick  to  welcome, 
however,  the  use  of  the  publisher's  money  that  this 
work  represents  in  channels  that  would  be  genuinely 
productive. 

Let  us  see  exactly  what  it  is  we  are  trying  to  ac- 
compHsh  with  any  piece  of  work.  The  part  that  the 
advertiser,  agent,  and  publisher  should  perform  and 
are  equipped  to  perform  will  then  be  clear.  Can  we 
not  then  check  the  tendency  to  encourage  situations 
like  one  that  recently  arose  between  a  publisher  and 
one  of  the  largest  advertisers  in  the  United  States? 

A  leading  American  manufacturer  established  a 


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344      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

new  record  in  the  amount  of  co-operation  asked  for 
from  the  newspapers.  One  of  the  newspapers  which 
had  given  full  co-operation  sought  a  renewal  of  the 
contract  and  volunteered  to  co-operate  again  in 
every  way.  The  advertiser  would  not  admit  that  he 
had  received  Class  A  co-operation.  He  said  that,  in 
addition  to  doing  all  of  the  many  things  requested,  the 
newspaper  pubUsher  should  suggest  new  methods  of 
co-operation  which  the  advertiser  could  not  think  of 

or  did  not  know  of. 

In  order  to  introduce  a  new  product  in  a  territory, 
to  maintain  sales  and  to  increase  them,  it  is  necessary 
to  determine,  not  what  minor  things  would  help 
this  or  that  campaign,  but  to  estabHsh  the  big  per- 
manent values. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness,  let  us  consider  a  definite 
problem — the  introduction  of  a  thirty-five-cent  coifee 

into  a  new  city. 

Let  us  admit  the  product  has  been  tried  and  proved 
sound;. that  it  will  repeat  in  markets  for  which  it  is 
adapted;  that  the  machinery  for  securing  distribu- 
tion is  adequate ;  that  deliveries  will  be  made  promx)tly 
and  in  proper  quantities.  This  is  the  kind  of  sendee 
the  manufacturer  must  give. 

The  next  step  is  to  realize  very  clearly  the  condi- 
tions that  are  to  be  met.  The  following  elemental 
functions  are  typical  of  those  that  must  be  definitely 

answered : 

Are  women  the  primary  purchasers? 
Is  there  a  natural  indifference  on  the  pari:  of 
the  consumers  and  a  consequent  inertia  to  be  over- 
come before  a  sale  can  be  established? 
Does  the  price  offer  real  resistance? 
What  is  the  character  of  the  population? 


I 


il 


n^rt 


f '  ^  li 


STANLEY  RESOR 

President  of  the  J.  Walter  Thompson  Advertising  Agency,  New  York  and  Chicago 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      345 

Is  the  city  primarily  an  industrial  one,  such  as 
Lowell?  Mainly  a  trading  center,  such  as  Wichita, 
Kansas,  or  residential  town,  such  as  Pittsfield? 

Is  the  city  a  cheap  food  market,  such  as  Milwau- 
kee or  St.  Louis? 

Wherein  lies  the  strength  of  competitive  brands 
already  established  in  the  market? 

What  should  be  the  nature  of  the  appeal  on  this 
new  product? 

How  should  it  be  conveyed? 

What  should  be  the  size  and  frequency  of  the 
insertions  ? 

If  newspapers  are  to  be  used,  shall  they  be  daily, 
Sunday,  or  both,  and  which  ones? 

Upon  the  correct  determination  of  these  and  many 
other  points,  and  upon  the  proper  execution  of  the 
plan  worked  out  to  meet  them,  depend  the  success 
or  failure  of  the  campaign. 

This  is  the  type  of  service  that  the  agent  must 
give. 

We  now  come  to  the  co-operation  to  be  rendered 
by  the  newspaper. 

For  the  newspaper  to  attempt  to  sell  merchandise 
or  to  send  with  the  salesman  a  solicitor  to  introduce 
him  to  the  trade,  to  give  window  displays,  or  to 
assume  the  responsibihty  of  deciding  whether  or  not 
the  city  is  a  good  market  for  a  thirty-five-cent  coffee 
— for  a  newspaper  to  attempt  work  of  this  kind  is  in 
reality  as  much  beyond  its  function  as  for  the  ad- 
vertiser to  publish  a  newspaper  and  for  the  agent  to 
solicit  subscriptions  for  its  circulation. 

Even  if  one  grants  that  the  paper  can  sell  some 
merchandise,   the  complications  that  arise  from  its 


f 


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346      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

attempting  to  sell  first  one  article  and  then  another 
are  too  obvious  to  need  any  discussion,  and  to  desig- 
nate a  solicitor  to  accompany  a  salesman  is  a  reflec- 
tion upon  the  salesman  the  manufacturer  has  placed 
on  the  job. 

To  attempt  to  judge  the  possible  market  a  city 
affords  for  a  wide  range  of  products  is  to  assume  very 
grave  responsibility.     Only  those  who  do  not  know 
the  multitude  of  problems  involved  would  lightly 
undertake  it.     Every  one  knows  how  easy  it  is  to 
prejudice  the  answer  of  either  housewife  or  dealer  in 
favor  of  the  point  he  is  trying  to  prove.     For  this 
reason  people  capable  of  securing  the  real  facts  can- 
not be  hired  and  fired.     It  has  been  our  experience 
that   absolutely  impartial   investigators,    thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  product  and  with  the  conditions 
which  make  for  or  against  its  use,  are  the  only  ones 
who  can  get  information  that  is  truly  indicative  of 
conditions. 

Before  recently  introducing  a  new  grocery  product, 
our  investigations  in  eight  cities  under  consideration 
represented  an  outlay  of  one  thousand  dollars.  In- 
complete investigations  may  prove  as  dangerous  to 
the  future  of  a  product  as  an  incomplete  or  inaccurate 
diagnosis  by  an  operating  surgeon  to  a  patient. 

Newspapers  cannot  do  this  work  efficiently  for  all 
advertisers.  Furthermore,  the  burden  is  so  great 
that  the  attempt  to  do  it  must  ultimately  be  reflected 
in  the  rate,  and  the  rate  must  be  borne  by  all  adver- 
tisers aHke,  whether  they  use  this  kind  of  service  or 
not.  The  properly  equipped  agent  does  not  need 
and  does  not  wish  to  encourage  this  type  of  co- 
operation because  for  his  clients  it  comes  to  mean 
virtual  subsidy,  covering  the  deficiencies  of  other  ad- 


n 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      347 

vertisers  whose  only  claim  upon  such  charity  is  their 
inefficiency. 

There  is  co-operation,  however,  which  the  news- 
paper can  give,  and  should  give — co-operation  which 
is  really  effective  for  advertiser  and  agent,  which  is 
permanent  and  profitable  to  all  concerned.  Much  of 
it  is  the  service  for  which  the  paper  charges  a  legiti- 
mate rate.  In  addition  to  the  cost  of  materials  and 
production,  the  advertising  rate  of  a  newspaper  is 
figured  to  cover  the  following  essential  items: 

Cost   of    selling    the    advertising    space   on   its 
actual  merit. 

Cost  of  handling  copy. 

Cost  of  bookkeeping  and  billing. 
Should  the  agent  do  less  than  demand  the  fullest 
co-operation  in  these  particulars,  which  constitute  the 
very  basis  of  effective  space  buying,  and  are  very 
definitely  included  in  that  for  which  his  client  pays? 
Let  us  list  these  forms  of  co-operation  together  with 
others  under  five  heads : 

1.  Complete  information  on  the  circulation  and 
character  of  the  paper  itself  and  its  readers. 

2.  Standardized  rates  and  standardized  rate  cards. 

3.  A  very  marked  improvement  in  the  handling 
of  the  business  details  of  the  advertising  de- 
partment. 

4.  A  greater  influence  on  the  business  in  a  com- 
munity; a  greater  effort  to  stimulate  buying 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  consumer. 

5.  A  broader  attitude  toward  American  business. 

Definite  progress  toward  these  points  would  be  of 
great  help,  would  be  lasting,  and  would  establish  a 
basis  for  future  growth. 


'I  i 


111 

si 


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t 


348      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

The  first  thing  we  need  from  a  newspaper  is  a 
genuinely  accurate  statement  of  the  amount  of  cir- 
culation, of  the  distribution  of  this  circulation  in  the 
city  and  outside,  etc.  This  work  is  being  done 
through  the  A.  B.  C,  whose  reports  we  feel  are  of 
very  definite  assistance.  We  also  need  just  such  simple 
facts  about  a  paper  as  the  volume  of  local  advertising 
carried,  its  division  among  the  principal  lines  repre- 
sented, its  division  by  days  to  indicate  any  peculiar 
local  customs,  such  as  the  tendency  in  some  cities 
among  good  stores  not  to  use  Sunday  papers. 

The  second  service  for  which  we  believe  there  is 
a  conspicuous  need  is  standardized  rates,  standard- 
ized rate  cards,  and  a  fiat  rate.  The  great  variation 
in  the  amount  of  circulation  that  a  dollar  can  buy 
is  a  condition  that  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  defend. 
We  do  not  refer  here  to  the  variation  between  a 
paper  of  estabHshed  quaHty  circulation  and  a  paper 
of  popular  circulation,  but  to  the  variation  among 
papers  of  similar  standing. 

For  10  cents  a  line  it  is  possible  to  buy  23,000  cir- 
culation in  Birmingham;  37,000  in  Bridgeport;  62,000 
in  Atlanta;  87,000  in  Omaha. 

For  15  cents  a  line  it  is  possible  to  buy  55,000  cir- 
culation in  Washington;  98,000  in  Baltimore;  130,000 
in  Detroit,  and  170,000  in  Kansas  City — over  three 
times  the  circulation  in  one  city  that  it  is  possible  to 
get  in  another. 

For  50,000  circulation  in  papers  of  similar  standing, 
the  prices  range  from  7  cents  to  18  cents  a  line. 

Freight  rates  and  production  costs  cannot  explain 
the  great  variation. 

An  equally  amazing  variation  appears  in  the  dis- 
counts allowed.    Of  three  papers  approximately  alike, 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      349 

one  gives  a  26-time  discount  of  2)4  per  cent,  and  a 
52-time  of  5  per  cent. ;  the  second,  5  per  cent,  on  5,000 
lines,  10  per  cent,  on  10,000  lines,  and  15  per  cent,  on 
15,000  lines;  the  third  gives  discounts  on  both  time 
and  space. 

Furthermore,  a  strange  resourcefulness  on  the  part 
of  publishers  in  concealing  these  vagaries  is  qualify- 
ing many  a  rate  clerk  to  be  a  Philadelphia  lawyer. 

Can  we  hope  in  our  generation  to  be  blessed  with 
a  fiat  rate  ? — not  of  course  the  fiat  rate  of  the  minimum 
discount. 

The  American  Association  of  Advertising  Agents  has 
prepared  and  recommended  a  standard  form  for  rate 
cards  which  greatly  simplifies  the  work  of  estimating. 
A  wider  adoption  of  this  form  is  one  very  definite  and 
simple  way  in  which  publishers  can  co-operate. 

The  third  service  is  a  very  marked  improvement 
in  the  handling  of  the  business  details  by  the  adver- 
tising department  of  the  newspaper.  Only  the  agents, 
I  think,  can  appreciate  how  much  we  need  this. 

A  fourth  of  the  entire  correspondence  of  our  com- 
pany is  necessitated  by  the  avoidable  mistakes  in 
the  newspaper  office — insertions  not  according  to 
schedule,  wrong  key  numbers,  checking  copies  not 
received,  bills  wrongly  figured,  deductions  not  noted. 
These  and  many  minor  laxities  cause  an  endless  and 
for  us  a  very  expensive  correspondence.  The  growth 
of  newspaper  advertising,  in  spite  of  the  looseness 
of  business  departments,  is  a  significant  tribute  to 
the  genuine  value  of  newspapers  as  a  medium. 

Then  there  is  the  question  of  typography  and 
make-up. 

In  a  moment  of  optimism  should  we  ask  even  a 
large  city  newspaper  to  see  an  advertisement,  foUow- 


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350     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

ing  copy  exactly — Heaven  forbid!  Agents  have  long 
since  realized  that  advertising  has  developed  its  own 
typography  which  demands  compositors  trained  in 
advertising  setting.  Have  the  newspapers,  especially 
in  the  larger  cities,  ever  stopped  to  consider  what  an 
economy  it  would  be  to  have  advertising  compositors  ? 

Those  papers  that  have  a  logical  basis  for  the  make- 
up of  their  advertising  columns  constitute  a  very  small 
proportion  of  the  nineteen  thousand  eight  hundred 
published.  Yet  such  papers  as  The  Philadelphia  Pub- 
lic Ledger  and  The  Christian  Science  Monitor  have  dem- 
onstrated that  mechanical  excellence  in  a  newspaper 
is  a  possibility. 

The  progress  that  has  been  made  toward  the  elim- 
ination of  objectionable  advertising  has  been  marked, 
and  there  is  hope  that  all  of  it  will  eventually  be 
dropped.  Then  there  is  need  of  more  discretion  in 
the  arrangement  of  advertising  copy,  so  that  com- 
petitive and  non-competitive  advertisements  will  be 
intelligently  grouped  or  kept  apart. 

Every  economy  in  time  in  making  standard  and 
automatic  these  obvious  and  paid-for  services  of  the 
newspapers  will  save  just  that  much  more  of  the 
agent's  time  and  money  for  creative  effort. 

The  fourth  service  that  we  suggest,  of  becoming  a 
greater  influence  in  building  up  business  in  a  com- 
munity and  of  stimulating  buying  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  consumer,  is  a  great  deal  more  concrete 
than  appears. 

Any  given  number  of  people  do  not  necessarily  con- 
stitute a  good  market.  The  value  of  the  market  to 
the  advertiser  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  standards 
of  living  in  the  community  and  to  the  progressive- 
ness  of  the  dealers.     John  Stuart  Mill's  statement 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      351 

that  "Wealth  is  not  money,  but  utilization  of  re- 
sources" is  amply  proved  every  day  in  the  marketing 
of  commodities.  The  difference  in  the  situation  in 
two  towns  of  approximately  the  same  size — Ogden 
in  the  central  part  of  Iowa,  and  Lancaster  in  central 
Kentucky — is  an  excellent  example  of  the  market's 
dependence  upon  the  spirit  and  development  of  the 
community.  In  Ogden  the  buying  habits  are  a  full 
decade  in  advance  of  those  of  Lancaster.  Is  it  not 
a  very  obvious  function  of  the  newspaper  to  develop 
on  the  part  of  readers  and  dealers  an  appreciation  of 
newspaper  advertising  and  newspaper  -  advertised 
commodities?  The  newspaper  should  certainly  not 
yield  first  place  to  any  other  medium  as  the  power 
for  developing  both  dealer  and  consumer. 

In  the  magazine  field  the  value  of  a  departmen- 
talized magazine  has  been  established  beyond  ques- 
tion. Readers  of  such  magazines  whose  buying  in- 
terest has  already  been  developed  by  the  medium 
show  a  conspicuous  responsiveness  to  advertising. 
The  question  of  departments  in  a  newspaper  is  a 
very  big  one;  but  the  fact  that  departments  can  be 
a  permanent  force  in  developing  markets  for  com- 
modities, and  that  they  will  produce  a  large  volume 
of  advertising,  is  proved  by  the  many  columns  of 
automobile  advertising  carried  by  newspapers  to-day. 

The  fifth  and  last  service  we  suggest  is  a  broader 
attitude  toward  American  business. 

An  English  traveler  of  note  recently  commented 
on  a  significant  factor  in  American  life.  Abroad,  he 
said,  the  well-known  buildings  are  cathedrals;  in 
this  country  it  is  the  Metropolitan  and  Woolworth 
towers,  the  railroad  terminals  and  business  monu- 
ments which  are  shown  the  distinguished  traveler. 


1 1 


i  I    1  s- 


ifliifii 


ilfl 


lli! 


352      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

In  America,  business  is  the  dominant  interest,  and 
in  America  business  articles,  intelligently  handled, 
constitute  news. 

The  Saturday  Evening  Post  and  The  American  Mag- 
azine have  proved  that  the  triumphs  of  American 
business  interestingly  presented  arouse  a  wide  in- 
terest. 

The  newspapers  seem  to  have  had  difficulty  in 
finding  any  middle  ground  between  the  extremes  of 
running  obvious  "readers"  to  an  unwarrantable  de- 
gree and  of  failing  to  present  interesting  facts  about 
large  industries.  The  service  of  the  canning  industry 
in  saving  50  per  cent,  of  the  fruits  and  vegetables 
raised  in  America,  and  that  of  the  mail-order  industry 
in  raising  the  standard  of  living  in  farm  districts, 
are  two  developments  that  have  come  within  our 
own  knowledge. 

The  attitude  of  the  small-town  newspaper  toward 
the  mail-order  industry  has  been  anything  but  in- 
teUigent.  Instead  of  trying  to  help  the  small  retailer 
establish  himself  in  his  rightful  field,  they  have  merely 
encouraged  him  in  his  hopeless  effort  to  stop  the  tide 
of  mail-order  buying. 

Briefly,  then,  these  five  forms  of  co-operation,  I  be- 
lieve, offer  the  greatest  permanent  value  to  the  ad- 
vertiser and  his  agent: 

A  clearer  pictiu-e  of  the  paper,  its  readers  and 
circulation ; 

Standardized  rates  and  rate  cards; 

Better  business  departments; 

A  greater  influence  on  the  trade  and  consumers 
of  the  community; 

A  broader  attitude  toward  American  business. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      353 

This  is  the  work  that  all  publishers  are  eminently 
fitted  to  do.  And  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  the 
performance  of  these  functions  is  profitable  to  the 
publisher  in  direct  proportion  to  the  thoroughness 
and  ability  which  he  applies  to  the  task? 

Agents  naturally  will  favor  papers  which  are  making 
conscientious  efforts  in  this  direction.  Such  papers 
become  more  responsive  advertising  media,  and  from 
the  start  deserve  all  the  encouragement  the  advertis- 
ing agencies  can  give  them. 

But  there  is  a  more  important  reason  why  the  co- 
operation outlined  will  be  profitable  to  the  publisher — 
a  reason  they  apparently  have  not  thought  of. 

If  newspaper  publishers  will  earnestly  try  to  stop 
that  waste  of  the  agencies'  time  and  money,  now 
caused  by  deficient  co-operation,  then  the  agencies 
will  find  it  possible  to  devote  a  much  larger  portion 
of  their  time  and  money  to  creative  effort,  to  the  prep- 
aration of  more  effective  campaigns  that  are  bound 
to  result  in  an  increase  of  present  business  and  to 
the  development  of  new  business.  This  is  co-opera- 
tion agents  are  able  and  eager  to  supply  just  as  fast 
as  the  publishers'  co-operation  makes  it  possible. 


m\ 


: 


LV 


Effective  Co-operation. — Paul  Faust 

A  REALLY  remarkable  explanation  of  Co-operation 
from  the  advertising  agency  standpoint  was  presented 
by  Paul  Faust,  of  Mallory,  Mitchell  &  Faust,  of  Chi- 
cago, in  the  Newspaper  Departmental  of  the  Associ- 
ated Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World,  ^t  Philadeli)hia, 
in  June,  1916,  in  part  as  follows: 

"For  Co-operation  to  be  intelligently  considered,  or 
for  Co-operation  to  be  dispassionately  viewed  and 
discussed,  it  cannot  be  defined  as  many  people  have 

defined  it. 

"Trade  papers  have  called  it  graft.  Some  pub- 
lishers have  called  it  a  new  way  of  cutting  rates. 
Some  advertisers  have  regarded  it  as  a  free  lunch. 

"If  Co-operation  is  any  of  these  things,  it  cannot 
endure.  If  it  is  none  of  these  things,  what  is  it,  and 
why  is  it  necessary? 

"There  must  be  merit  in  it,  or  some  of  the  most 
ethical,  intelligent,  and  far-sighted  newspaper  pub- 
Hshers  in  this  country  would  not  advocate  Co-opera- 
tion with  advertisers  so  positively ;  neither  would  they 
continue  the  service  that  they  are  now  rendering  so 
enthusiastically. 

"We  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  misuse  of  the 


I 


I 


I    : 


m 


PAUL   E.   FAUST 

Of  Mallory,  Mitchell  &  Faust  of  Chicago 


« 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      355 

word  Co-operation.  It  has  been  misused.  We  are 
concerned  with  the  legitimate  possibilities  of  a  service 
from  the  publisher  to  the  advertiser  which  must  be 
based  (i)  on  the  self-interest  of  the  pubhsher;  (2)  on 
helpmg  the  advertiser  to  succeed  so  that  he  is  per- 
petuated as  a  customer  of  the  publisher.  Co-opera- 
tion, as  we  view  it,  is  merchandizing,  is  merchandizing 
aid  or  merchandizing  service.  It  is  not  the  actual 
sale  of  goods,  but,  rather,  helping  to  organize  a  market 
so  that  selling  is  simplified  to  the  dealer  and  to  the 
consumer. 

"  Perhaps  the  most  general  attitude  of  the  newspaper 
publisher  toward  a  service  to  the  foreign  advertiser 
is  the  objection  to  doing  anything  beyond  the  pubH- 
cation  of  a  good  newspaper,  deHvering  it  regularly 
to  the  subscribers  and  giving  the  advertiser  a  fair 
measure  of  circulation  for  the  rate  charged. 

"If  a  pubhsher  beheves  in  pubHshing  news  only, 
he  is  likely  to  find  himself  very  much  alone  in  a  view- 
point a  good  many  years  old. 

'"This  is  because  the  newspaper  is  constantly  be- 
coming more  than  a  purveyor  of  news.  News  can 
properly  be  defined  as  'daily  happenings.'  If  a  news- 
paper to-day  were  limited  to  that,  it  would  be  de- 
cidedly restricted  in  its  scope.  PubHshers  have  found 
that  news,  as  such,  does  not  interest  100  per  cent,  of 
the  people.  So  that  for  the  newspaper  to  be  of  uni- 
versal or  100  per  cent,  interest,  something  more  than 
news  had  to  be  printed. 

"In  many  metropoHtan  dailies  there  are  accordingly 
various  features,  such  as  editorial  pages,  fashion  de- 
partments, household  pages,  automobile  sections, 
real-estate  sections,  book-review  sections,  magazine 
supplements,   and  so  on.     These  are  all  variously 


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356      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

valued  for  their  information,  entertainment,  and  for 
the  attraction  and  holding  of  subscriptions. 

**In  a  nutshell,  the  publication  of  news  alone  is  not 
enough  and  there  has  to  be  added  literary  merchandise 
to  keep  pace  with  the  competition  from  other  pub- 
lications and  periodicals  and,  in  a  word,  to  keep  up 
with  the  times. 

"Twenty  years  ago  newspaper  publishers  would 
have  reviewed  the  present-day  newspaper  as  being 
just  as  unethical  as  many  of  them  call  misunderstood 
'Co-operation'  unethical  to-day. 

"The  fact  is,  the  newspaper  business  is  developing. 
The  point  of  view  of  ten  years  ago,  or  even  five  years 
ago,  must  be  revised  if  the  newspaper  is  going  to  keep 
up  with  literary  competition  and  finally  with  adver- 
tising competition. 

"When  the  newspaper  elected  to  carry  advertising, 
the  newspaper  assumed  a  responsibility  to  the  ad- 
vertiser as  well  as  the  subscriber.  The  publisher 
cannot  long  prosper  and  take  money  from  the  sub- 
scriber without  giving  ultimate  satisfaction  to  both. 

"In  the  past,  publishers  have  felt  that  their  re- 
sponsibility terminated  with  printing  the  advertise- 
ment of  the  advertiser.  This  was  well  enough  until 
it  was  found  that  in  an  alarming  number  of  instances 
advertising  contracts,  published  under  these  circum- 
stances, probably  would  not  be  renewed  at  their 
expiration. 

"It  has  finally  developed  with  observing  publishers 
that  it  is  a  far-sighted  policy  to  concern  themselves 
in  the  real  success  of  the  advertiser  for  the  purely 
selfish  newspaper  reason  that  in  so  doing  they  could 
renew  business  and  increase  business  at  less  expense 
than  they  could  possibly  keep  up  their  revenue  by 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      357 

getting    a    new    crop    of    foreign    advertisers    every 
year. 

"We  come,  then,  to  the  point  that  if  the  newspaper 
advertiser  succeeds,  he  renews  his  contract  and  per- 
haps increases  his  appropriation.  If  he  fails,  it  is 
one  more  black  eye  for  newspaper  advertising,  one 
more  advertiser  delivered  to  the  magazines  or  to  the 
billboards,  or  to  the  agricultural  papers,  one  more 
blow  to  the  efficacy  of  newspaper  advertising. 

"If  we  admit  the  truth,  we  must  start  with  the 
power  of  the  newspaper  as  an  advertising  medium. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  newspaper  which  markets 
the  millions  of  dollars  of  merchandise  for  the  big  re- 
tail stores  of  America  is  the  most  powerful  local 
selling  medium  we  have.  It  works  the  quickest. 
And  we  have  documentary  proof,  in  sales  and  sub- 
scription records,  of  the  number  of  persons  it  actually 
reaches. 

"But  this  high-powered,  quick-acting,  universal 
advertising  medium  is  an  expensive  one  as  ordinarily 
used.  It  is  not  expensive  if  thoroughly  used.  And 
it  must  be  thoroughly  utilized  to  be  made  to  pay. 

"Every  one  of  you  have  had  experience  with  ad- 
vertising campaigns  of  five,  ten,  and  fifteen  thousand 
line  contracts  being  undertaken  by  foreign  adver- 
tisers with  a  most  unsatisfactory  or  disastrous  result. 
Apparently  attractive  copy  has  been  printed.  Ap- 
parently the  schedule  was  fairly  adequate.  Appar- 
ently the  product  was  good.  Apparently  the  sales- 
men were  energetic.  But  the  final  outcome  was  not 
successful.  So  the  campaign  petered  out  and  was 
not  renewed. 

"You  may  have  wondered,  for  a  short  time,  why. 
If  you  gave  it  thought  you  probably  concluded  that 


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358      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

maybe  the  people  in  your  section  did  not  want  the: 
goods.  You  may  have  thought  the  price  was  out  of 
Hne.  You  may  have  thought  the  product  was  not 
meritorious.     Anyhow,  you  found  some  aHbi. 

*' And  I  know  that  down  in  your  hearts  some  of  you 
wondered  if  your  own  medium  might  not  have  been 
a  little  bit  weak  for  that  dass  of  product  or  that 
quality  of  trade  or  for  that  particular  merchandizing: 
undertaking. 

"If  you  thought  your  medium  was  not  an  effective; 
seller  of  this  class  of  goods,  you  tried  your  best  tc» 
forget  it,  your  advertising  m.anager  did,  too,  and 
your  foreign  representative  did  his  best  to  explain 
the  failure  of  the  campaign. 

"I  wonder  how  many  publishers  have  investigated 
the  whole  merchandizing  process  of  getting  such 
products  from  the  factory  to  the  consumer. 

''If  you  had  started  with  the  premise  that  you  had 
the  most  powerful  medium,  that  you  were  probably 
selling  that  very  same  item  for  some  grocery  store, 
or  department  store,  or  hardware  store,  or  furniture 
store,  or  market  in  your  own  town,  you  would  prob- 
ably have  come  to  the  same  point  of  view  that  we 
have  reached  as  merchandizers. 

"We  know  of  a  certainty  that  the  newspapers  are 
successfully  selling  for  retail  stores  the  class  or  kind 
of  products  that  we  undertake  to  advertise  in  them. 
It  is  very  simple  to  find  out  why,  for  example,  the 
department  store  gets  results.  The  department  store 
advertises  to-day.  It  displays  the  goods  to-day.  The 
clerk  is  informed  of  the  advertising  to-day .  When 
the  consumer  comes  in,  the  product  is  available.  It 
is  displayed.  It  is  inteUigently  discussed  by  the 
salesman  or  saleslady.     There  are  no  gaps  between 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      359 

the  advertising  in  the  newspaper  and  the  delivery  of 
the  product  to  the  consumer.  The  advertising  has 
an  opportunity  to  attract  attention  and  aid  definitely 
in  the  sale  of  the  product.  The  advertising  medium, 
the  advertising  manager,  the  window  trimmer,  and 
the  clerk  all  operate  in  unison  when  the  department 
store  advertises. 

"When  the  foreign  advertiser  advertises,  the  sales 
condition  may  be  exactly  the  opposite.  On  the  one 
hand  we  have  a  forceful  advertisement  appearing  in 
the  newspaper.  In  many  cases  the  goods  are  in 
the  hands  of  dealers.  Certainly  they  should  be. 
There  is  a  serious  question  whether  any  one  in  the 
dealer's  store,  excepting  the  dealer  himself,  knows 
that  the  goods  are  there.  We  know  of  cases  where 
the  dealer  was  unaware  that  the  advertised  product 
was  in  his  storeroom.  We  then  have  the  situation 
that  (i)  the  product  may  not  even  be  distributed; 
(2)  it  may  not  be  known  to  the  clerks;  (3)  it  may  not 
be  known  to  the  dealer;  (4)  it  probably  is  not  dis- 
played in  the  dealer's  store. 

"Contrast  the  two  opportunities  for  results  from 
newspaper  advertising.  With  the  department  store 
they  are  almost  100  per  cent,  perfect.  With  the  foreign 
advertiser  they  may  be  almost  100  per  cent,  imperfect. 

"Now  you  may  say  that  this  is  no  business  of  the 
newspaper  pubHsher.  You  may  say  that  this  is  no 
concern  of  any  one  but  the  foreign  advertiser. 

''Well  enough  if  you  are  prepared  to  do  without  the 
revenue  that  can  be  yours  for  reaching  out  a  reasonably 
helping  hand. 

"This  'helping  hand,'  as  stated  in  our  definition, 
does  not  mean  selling  goods. 

"The  fact  to  be  looked  in  the  face  is  that  in  success- 


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360     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

fill  advertising  the  Consumer,  the  Salesman,  and  the 
Dealer  are  of  almost  equal  importance.  It  is  not 
enough  that  advertising  reaches  the  maximum  num- 
ber of  consumers  in  any  locality. 

**The  dealer  must  be  in  a  position  to  supply  thei 
goods  when  they  are  demanded,  and  he  must  be  in 
the  frame  of  mind  to  offer  the  goods  to  the  willing; 
consumer.  He  must  do  justice  to  the  product  in 
store  or  window  display.  His  clerks  have  to  show  a 
reasonable  interest  in  the  requirements  of  the  con- 
sumer for  the  product  advertised.  In  turn  the  sales- 
man who  places  the  product  with  the  dealer  must 
make  use  of  the  advertising  as  one  of  the  reasons 
for  the  sale.  He  must  be  reasonably  interested  or 
enthusiastic,  and  for  him  to  work  with  sustained  in- 
terest and  enthusiasm  he  must  find  the  dealer  rea,- 
sonably  approachable  on  the  subject  of  the  advertised 

product. 

"The  newspaper  pubHsher  may  perhaps  feel  tha,t 
this  concerns  the  manufacturer;  that  it  does  not  con- 
cern the  pubHsher.  The  answer  is  that  advertising 
does  not  grow  on  barren  ground.  If  the  dealer  resists 
advertised  products,  as  thousands  do,  there  is  a  handi- 
cap placed  on  the  advertising  that  almost  neutralizcjs 

its  value. 

"Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  we  must  realize  that  in 
every  locality  there  are  dozens  of  good  dealers  wtio 
take  a  very  unfriendly  attitude  toward  advertising 
and  advertised  goods.  We  may  not  be  able  to  know 
just  why  this  is.  But  I  personally  beHeve  it  is  be- 
cause advertising  has  always  been  presented  to  the 
dealer  as  something  that  would  'force  a  tremendous 
demand.'  There  have  been  countless  circulars  sent 
to  dealers  telling  the  story  of  advertising,   all   era- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      361 

phasizing  the  crushing  power  of  the  demand  that  the 
advertising  would  produce.  Writers  of  circulars  have 
for  years  gone  on  without  restraint  talking  about 
what  advertising  would  do  in  creating  consumer  de- 
mand. No  one  has  stopped  them,  until  the  adver- 
tising world  realized  that  the  old  formula  of  talking 
to  the  dealer  about  advertising  would  no  longer  serve 
the  purpose. 

"This  is  because  the  predictions  of  demand  do  not 
always  come  true.  In  fact,  they  very  seldom  come 
true  in  the  manner  outlined  in  the  various  statements 
that  have  been  made  to  dealers. 

"This  was  the  condition  that  brought  about  the 
principle  of  'Consumer  Acceptance,'  which  was  the 
combined  work  of  Mr.  H.  J.  Winsten,  sales  manager 
of  Black  Cat  Hosiery;  Mr.  William  Laughlin,  adver- 
tising manager  of  Armour  &  Co.,  and  Mallory, 
Mitchell  &  Faust. 

"In  a  nutshell,  the  principle  of  Consumer  Accept- 
ance is  that  advertising  produces  two  kinds  of  results 
—one  is  positive  demand  on  the  dealer;  the  other  is 
willingness  on  the  part  of  the  consumer  to  accept 
certain  products  when  the  dealer  offers  them.  This 
has  been  covered  in  articles  in  The  Armour  Magazine, 
and  specifically  in  one  discussion,  by  Mr.  Forrest 
Crissey,  in  Printers'  Ink,  May  18  issue  of  this  year. 
"Hereafter  in  talking  to  the  dealer  about  advertis- 
ing we  must  tell  the  dealer  the  plain,  unvarnished 
facts.  Because  the  dealer  must  always  be  the  im- 
portant factor  in  the  final  distribution  of  the  adver- 
tised product  to  the  consumer. 

"We  have  found  with  letters  and  circulars  which 
have  covered  the  point  of  Consumer  Demand  and 
Consumer  Acceptance  that  the  dealer  welcomes  this 


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362      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

new  idea.     It  is  therefore  easy  to  predict  that  it  will 
beTut  a  question  of  time  until  the  words  'Consumer 
Demand-  almost  pass  out  of  the  advertising  lan^^ge 
and  when  advertising  campaigns  are  submitted  to 
Z  dealer  they  wiU  be  presented  with  a  ^1  recogm- 
tion  of  the  fact  that  advertismg  does  not  create 
stampedes,  nor  work  miracles,  but  performs  its  bene- 
SJTn  a  very  understandable,  non-mystenous  manner, 
"in  the  mean  time,  however,  the  dealer  must  be 
educated  to  the  proper  appreciation  and  the  proper 
Iw  of  advertising  and  its  results.    When  we^y 
'dealer'  we  mean  all   dealers  -  grocers,  meat    mar- 
kets, dry-goods  stores,  department  stores,  furniture 
stores,  drug  stores,  bakeries,  and  so  on. 

"If  these  dealers  are  brought  to  the  proper  recogni- 
tion of  advertising,  they  will  take  a  n^J^P^  more  fnendly 
and  receptive  attitude  toward  advertised  goods.  In- 
ddentaS?,  they  wiU  do  a  great  deal  more  local  news- 

^^^BufwTcaf/ut  this  down  as  Rule  No^ . :  In  towns 
where  the  newspapers  have  educated  the  dealers  to 
Te  real  significance  of  advertising  in  the  newspaper, 
*t  is  a  simSified  matter  for  the  foreign  advertiser  t<, 
get  distribution,  to  get  window  displays,  store  di^ay 
Ind  finally  results.    Where  the  newspaper  publisher  is 
Cd  headed  and  refuses  to  believe  that  the  education 
of  the  dealer  is  vital  to  himself  first,  to  the  foreign 
advertiir  second,  it  is  difficult  for  the  foreign  repre- 
sentatives of  the  newspaper  to  sell  adverti^ng  space. 
"Item  No.  I.  then,  in  newspaper  ^^-'^V^''^l'°1'l 
bringing  the  dealers  in  the  newspaper  s  locality  to  a 
Sr  appreciation  of  advertising.     This  wiU  bench 
aSeiS  advertisers.     But  it  wiU.  first  of  all,  beneht 
the  newspaper  publisher. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      363 

**We  find  in  observing  a  great  many  localities  that 
the  art  of  store  arrangement,  store  trimming,  and  win- 
dow decoration  is  too  little  understood  or  appreciated 
by  dealers.  Following  the  education  of  the  dealer 
to  the  value  of  advertising  will  come  greater  activity 
on  the  dealer's  part  in  scientific  or  sales-making  win- 
dow and  store  trims. 

''All  the  contests  and  advertised  product  weeks 
and  food  shows  and  similar  undertakings  are  working 
great  good  in  this  direction,  and  there  can  hardly  be 
any  co-operation  developed  or  extended  by  the  news- 
paper of  more  practical  aid  to  the  foreign  advertiser. 

''Item  No.  2,  therefore,  in  newspaper  co-operation, 
is  to  get  the  dealers  to  trim  their  windows,  arrange 
their  stocks  and  make  store  displays  in  co-ordination 
with  newspaper  advertising. 

"Then  there  comes  the  question  of  the  manufact- 
urer's and  the  jobber's  salesmen.  These  men,  in  many 
cases,  are  hard  to  reach,  hard  to  get  the  newspaper 
message  to.  But  it  is  important  that  the  manu- 
facturer's salesmen  receive  from  the  newspaper  com- 
plete information  about  the  scope,  power,  and  pecuHar 
values  of  the  newspaper  the  advertiser  is  using.  We 
would  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  a  newspaper  can  do  no 
greater  good  for  itself  than  to  get  the  advertiser  in 
the  foreign  field  using  their  newspaper,  and  at  least 
once— better  still,  regularly— tell  the  story  of  the 
newspaper  to  these  men.  This  is  because  some  manu- 
facturers, in  taking  up  advertising,  have  to  depend 
upon  veteran  salesmen  to  co-operate  with  the  adver- 
tising, and  often  they  are  men  entirely  unused  to 
advertising,  its  value  and  its  real  utility  to  the  sales- 
man. If  such  a  man  is  properly  coached  in  the  value 
of  the  newspaper  and  the  leverage  it  can  be  in  holding 


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364     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

old  dealers,  selling  them  large  stocks  and  in  getting 
new  accounts,  that  salesman  becomes  an  earnest 
booster  for  advertising  and  for  newspaper  advertismg. 
"If  the  salesman  does  not  use  the  advertismg,  he 
ceases  to  study  it,  he  loses  interest  in  it,  and  it  is 
but  another  step  to  active  opposition  to  newspaper 

publicity. 

"Who,  then,  would  benefit  most  by  teachmg  the 
salesman  how  to  utiUze  the  newspaper  campaign:' 
On  the  one  hand,  if  the  salesman  is  trained  to  use  it. 
the  business  is  insured  perpetually  for  the  newspaper. 
If  the  salesman  is  not  trained  to  utilize  it,  in  time  thci 
advertising  must  become  a  questionable  value  to  th(; 
salesman  and  finally  to  the  manufacturer,  who  gets 
much  of  his  impression  from  the  men  in  the  field. 

"Item  No.  3  in  co-operation,  therefore,  becomes 
the  practical  education  of  the  salesman  in  the  news- 
paper's territory  to  the  utiUzation  of  the  newspaper 

advertising. 

"Finally  we  come  to  the  consumer.     Ihere  are 
available  all  kinds  of  records  of  traced-result  advertis- 
ing to  prove  that  where  a  written  response  is  expected 
from  the  consumer,  publications  with  text  kindred 
to  the  article  advertised  produce  the  greatest  measure 
of  returns  as  a  rule.     That  is  to  say,  there  are  a  great 
many  different  class  publications  in  which  class  ad- 
vertising will  pull  extremely  well.     This  has  been 
demonstrated  over  a  period  of  years,  by  inquin(3s 
and  sales,  whether  the  sale  is  finally  made  by  corre- 
spondence or  through  a  retail  dealer. 

"To  illustrate:  You  can  advertise  wearing  apparel 
in  publications  having  authoritative  fashion  depart- 
ments and  secure  a  remarkable  result  for  the  readers 
in  definite  inquiries,  all  because  the  reader  has  been 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      365 

educated  to  the  fashion  viewpoint.  There  are  a 
number  of  publications  that  pay  particular  attention 
to  houses  and  house-furnishings,  and  without  excep- 
tion these  produce  remarkable  responses  for  building- 
material  and  house-furnishing  advertisers.  They  are 
the  regulation  household  journals.  But  because  they 
have  aroused  the  readers'  interest  in  houses  and  house 
interiors,  the  readers  of  those  publications  are  pecul- 
iarly responsive. 

"A  number  of  journals  have  given  special  attention 
to  foods.  So  that  any  kind  of  attractive  mail  offer  in 
connection  with  food-product  advertising  will  show 
immediate  expression  of  interest  by  traced-result 
responses  from  the  readers  of  these  publications. 

"We  perhaps  have  not  yet  analyzed  the  full  signif- 
icance of  all  this,  but  it  goes  to  show  that  as  you 
educate  the  consumer  you  stimulate  the  consumer 
responsiveness  to  advertised  goods. 

"The  magazines  have  found  this  a  very  legitimate 
thing  to  do.  In  fact,  as  a  class,  the  most  successful 
publications  to-day  have  made  a  business  of  so  de- 
partmentizing  their  text  as  to  pay  the  maximum 
attention  to  the  diverse  household  interests — partic- 
ularly of  the  woman. 

**It  is  not  out  of  place  to  repeat  the  comment  of  a 
newspaper-man  that  the  lack  of  attention  to  house- 
hold interests  by  newspapers  made  the  opportu- 
nity for  this  specialization  work,  editorially,  by  the 
magazines. 

"The  final  result  to  the  advertiser  is  that  the  ad- 
vertiser of  wearing  apparel,  building  material,  fashion 
goods,  food  products,  and  furnishings  can  very  accu- 
rately judge  in  advance  the  productiveness  of  a  pe- 
riodical by  the  character  of  its  text.     The  result  is 

26 


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I 


366      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

that  the  kind  of  text  a  magazine  publishes,  which  is 
determined  entirely  by  the  editorial  department, 
becomes  one  of  the  selling  resources  of  the  advertismg 

department. 

"At  our  office  we  receive  regularly  from  various  mag- 
azines most  interesting  analyses  of  their  text  pages  to 
indicate  their  particular  fitness  for  various  accounts 
we  may  be  handling. 

"While  we  beHeve  that  this  material  of  a  stnctl}^ 
household  nature  must  be  pubHshed  by  newspapers, 
if  they  are  to  have  the  keenest  interest  of  their  women 
readers,  we  are  not  willing  to  debate  this  point.  We 
only  bring  it  before  you  for  consideration.  We  do 
know  that  a  number  of  newspapers  have  made  great 
successes  of  special  departments,  enabUng  them  to 
build  up,  first  of  all,  a  wide  reader  interest  in  these 
special  text  pages,  and  finally  to  utilize  this  reader 
interest  in  creating  and  holding  highly  desirable 
special  advertising. 

"I  think,  for  example,  Mr.  Owen  Moon,  and  his 
associates  of  The  Trenton  (N.  J.)  Times,  would  say 
that  the  editorial  department  of  food  matter  is  one 
of  the  best  subscription  winners  The  Trenton  Times 

ever  used. 

"We  know  that  this  daily  has  four  women  editors 
who  produce  food  pages  and  household  pages  of 
highest  merit  and  broad  scope.  Mr.  Moon  feels  tha.t 
these  household  and  food  pages  have  been  most  effec- 
tive in  circulation  building.  We  may  or  may  not 
consider  it  incidental  to  this  that  The  Trenton  Times 
publishes  a  half -million  lines  of  food  advertising  per 
year.  One  thing  is  sure— that  after  the  food  text  has 
been  pubHshed  for  a  considerable  time  in  The  Trenton 
Times,  it  was  very  easy  for  The  Trenton  Times  to  get 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      367 

profitable  advertising  from  local  stores  and  from  for- 
eign advertisers  and  carry  a  three  to  five-page  food 
section  on  a  light  day  each  week.  The  test  is  that 
when  a  foreign  advertiser  goes  into  Trenton  he  finds 
the  dealers  of  Trenton  in  the  frame  of  mind  to  place 
the  advertised  products  in  stock;  so  that  the  text  pages 
of  The  Trenton  Times  devoted  to  household  and  food 
interest  ultimately  have  a  bearing  on  the  success  of 
the  advertiser.  And  that  is  what  concerns  our 
company. 

**If  the  publisher  of  a  newspaper  elects  to  disre- 
gard the  woman  reader,  to  carry  no  household  depart- 
ments, to  carry  no  fashion  or  food  pages,  we  have  no 
quarrel  with  him.  But  we  do  say,  that  if  the  news- 
paper publisher  desires  to  compete  for  advertising 
it  is  fundamentally  necessary  for  the  newspaper  to 
help  put  his  readers  in  a  sufficiently  responsive  frame 
of  mind  so  that  the  advertiser  can  use  the  paper 
efficiently. 

"This  cannot  be  construed  in  any  degree  as  an  argu- 
ment for  illegitimate  text;  that  is,  text  that  is  not, 
first  of  all,  of  definite  news  interest  to  women  readers. 

*'We  can  put  this  down  as  a  fact,  I  think,  that  if  a 
newspaper  expects  to  pay  the  specialized  advertisers 
over  a  long  period  of  time,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  pay  some  attention  to  the  frame  of  mind  of  the 
newspaper  audience  toward  that  class  of  product. 
This  is  true  of  foreign  advertising  or  local  advertising. 
It  is  true  of  investment  publicity,  or  advertising  for 
automobiles,  fashion  goods,  wearing  apparel,  food 
products,  household  appliances,  and  so  on. 

**This  is  not  to  be  taken  as  an  argument  that  the 
newspaper  shall  assume  magazine  proportions  or  that 
it  shall  publish  every  day  this  magazine-like  material. 


H 


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368      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

Neither  is  it  intended  that  all  such  material  shall  be 
assembled  in  a  gigantic  issue,  publishing  such  feat- 
ures only  on  Sunday.  There  is  a  middle  ground 
which  will  enable  the  newspaper  to  pubHsh  material 
of  maximum  interest  to  the  woman,  and  when  a  news- 
paper arrives  at  this  point  of  view  it  is  not  difficult 
to  analyze  the  feminine  or  household  interest,  based 
on  income  and  the  percentage  of  the  income  that 
goes  for  various  lines. 

"  If  a  quarter  of  the  income  goes  for  wearing-apparel 
products,  it  is  evident  that  this  is  of  great  interest 
to  the  home.  If  50  per  cent,  of  the  average  income 
goes  for  foods,  then  food  products  can  be  seen  to 
be  a  very  live  issue.  If  10  per  cent,  of  the  income 
goes  for  furniture  and  house-furnishings,  it  is  reason- 
able to  beHeve  that  these  items  are  entitled  to  edi- 
torial attention,  so  that  the  reader  may  be  guided, 
counseled,  and  given  very  much  desired  information 

on  the  subject. 

"As  the  newspaper  is  developing  to-day,  it  seems  m- 
evitable  that  it  cannot  be  a  purveyor  of  news  of  hap- 
penings only.  As  the  newspapers  reach  the  point  of 
view  that  departmentized  text  matter  is  desirable, 
they  will  perform  co-operation  of  the  utmost  value 
to  the  foreign  advertiser,  because  the  newspaper 
will  then  be  educating  the  market,  which,  when  it 
falls  entirely  upon  the  advertiser,  is  an  expense  that 
makes  newspaper  advertising  practically  prohibitive. 

'•In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
an  analysis  of  the  text  of  some  of  the  leading  woman's; 
magazines  reveals  the  following  percentages  devoted  to 

various  topics:  7^     . 

*'  Thirteen  per  cent,  of  The  Ladies' Home  Journal  text 

pages  in  1915  was  devoted  to  fashion;  33  per  cent,  of 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     369 

The  Delineator  was  devoted  to  fashion;  29  per  cent, 
of  The  Pictorial  Review  was  given  to  fashion,  and 
14  per  cent,  of  The  Woman's  Home  Companion. 

"Eight  per  cent,  of  The  Ladies'  Home  Journal  was 
devoted  to  cooking  and  household  items;  9  per  cent, 
of  The  Delineator;  6  per  cent,  of  The  Pictorial  Review; 
6  per  cent,  of  The  Woman's  Home  Companion;  Mc- 
Call's  Magazine  devoted  7.3  per  cent,  to  menus  and 
recipes,  11  per  cent,  to  household  items,  such  as 
building  and  remodeling,  furnishing  and  decorating, 
labor-saving  devices,  and  so  on.  McCalVs  devoted 
32.9  per  cent,  to  personal  appearance,  6  per  cent,  to 
embroidery  and  fancy-work,  25  per  cent,  to  fiction. 

''Good  Housekeeping,  a  magazine  of  wide  interest  to 
women,  published  in  191 5  enough  material  to  make 
528  pages  of  a  standard  size  book  on  the  care  of  chil- 
dren and  raising  the  family.  Good  Housekeeping  pub- 
lished enough  material  to  make  a  standard  size  book 
of  358  pages  on  foods  and  their  preparation,  a  book  of 
260  pages  on  building  material  and  houses,  a  book  of 
234  pages  on  wearing  apparel.  This  material  was 
supplied  the  reader  at  from  eight  to  twenty-two  pages 
per  month  and  is  an  interesting  commentary  on  the 
amount  of  text  that  can  be  originated  and  assembled 
for  a  discriminating  woman  audience  in  one  year. 

"  The  Chicago  Tribune  in  the  past  year  published  text 
in  departments  as  follows:  Fashions — 344  columns 
daily,  520  columns  Sunday;  Foods — 173  columns  daily, 
80  columns  Sunday;  Automobiles — 173  columns  daily, 
272  columns  Sunday;  Financial — 3,300  columns  daily, 
632  columns  Sunday;  Real  Estate — 1,058  columns 
daily,  390  columns  Sunday. 

"Many  other  publications  offer  interesting  figures 
for  the  observation  of  the  newspaper  publishers. 


rMl 


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II 


370      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"Many  of  these  woman's  and  household  magazines 
have  achieved  extraordinary  successes  for  their  own- 
ers in  recent  years  and  they  have  produced  startling 
results  for  advertisers.  They  offer,  therefore,  some- 
thing for  the  consideration  of  both  the  editor  and  the 
advertising  manager  of  the  daily  paper. 

"To  repeat,  co-operation  with  the  advertiser  is 
service  to  the  advertiser.  The  word  'co-operation* 
cannot  be  frowned  upon  or  put  aside  because  many 
newspaper  publishers  profess  to  misunderstand  it. 
As  we  have  stated  throughout  this  discussion,  ser- 
vice to  the  advertiser  is  desirable,  primarily  in  the 
newspaper  publisher's  own  interest.  And  if  the  news- 
paper publisher  is  to  render  service,  it  is  well  to  look 
about  him  and  see  what  other  pubHshers  are  doing 
to  aid  the  advertisers  to  succeed  to  find  what  these 
other  pubHshers  are  doing  to  help  the  same  adver- 
tiser that  the  newspaper's  representative  is  looking  to 

for  business. 

"Do  newspaper  publishers  find  that  service  to  the 
foreign  advertiser  is   profitable    to   the    newspaper? 
We  suggest  that   you   ask   Mr.   R.   H.   Cornell,   of 
The  Houston  Chronicle;   Mr.   Henry  Doorly,  of   The 
Omaha  World-Herald;  Mr.  C.  C.  Rosewater,  of  The 
Omaha  Bee;     Mr.    Clarence   J.    Pyle,  of    The    Wil- 
mington (Del.)  Journal;  Mr.  E.   L.  Clifford,  of  The 
Minneapolis  Journal;   Mr.  Owen  Moon,  of  The  Tren- 
ton Times;    Mr.  L.  B.  Tobin,  of  The  Lincoln  Star; 
Mr.  W.  A.  Elliott,  of  The  Jacksonville  Times-Union; 
Mr.    George    F.    Booth,  of    The    Worcester   Gazette; 
Mr.   Charles  S.    Diehl,  of  The  San  Antonio  Light; 
Mr.  Clayton  P.  Chamberlin,  of  The  Hartford  Times; 
Mr.  J.  S.  Mapes,  of  The  Beaumont  Enterprise;  Mr. 
Harvey  R.  Young,  of  The  Columbus  Dispatch;  Mr. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      371 

M.  B.  Reed,  of  The  Bangor  News;  Mr.  John  D.  Plum- 
mer,  of  The  Springfield  Union;  Mr.  W.  L.  Williams,  of 
The  St.  Paul  Dispatch;  Mr.  Fred  H.  Drinkwater,  of 
The  Portland  Express  and  Advertiser;  Mr.  H.  C.  Rugg, 
of  The  Fitchburg  Sentinel;  Mr.  Hugh  B.  Kenned}^  of 
The  New  Haven  Register,  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Horton,  of 
The  Muskogee  Phoenix. 

"There  are  scores  of  other  live  wires  who  have  seen 
the  opportunity  for  themselves,  to  the  foreign  ad- 
vertiser and  in  making  earnings  by  giving  this  co- 
operating or  merchandizing  service. 

"Right  here  we  want  to  acknowledge  the  inspiration 
as  well  as  the  co-operation  we  have  secured  from  our 
contact  with  the  many  advanced  thinkers  and  real 
reformers  we  have  found  in  the  newspaper  and  special 
representatives'  ranks.  It  is  that  spirit  which  is 
making  such  a  record  for  newspaper  advertising  as 
to  make  advertisers,  advertising  managers,  and  adver- 
tising agents  keen  to  place  business  with  the  news- 
papers where  they  know  it  will  surely  win. 

"We  can  profitably  consider  the  case  of  The  Curtis 
Publishing  Company.  We  select  them,  believing  that 
they  typify  high  ideals  and  practical  common  sense 
and  combine  both  with  a  phenomenal  record  of  suc- 
cess for  their  owners  and  with  readers  and  advertisers. 
The  Curtis  Publishing  Company  has  believed  that 
the  success  of  the  advertiser  depends  to  a  large  measure 
on  exact  information  which  provides  accurate  guid- 
ance of  advertising  and  sales  plans.  To  that  end. 
The  Curtis  Publishing  Company  has  organized  and 
financed  a  department  of  Commercial  Research,  which 
has  been,  from  the  first,  under  the  supervision  of 
Professor  C.  C.  Parlin,  who  has  come  to  be  recog- 
nized as  not  only  an  expert  investigator,  but  as  a 


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372      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

man  whose  deductions  from  his  investigations  have 
been  tiimed  into  reports  that  may  be  considered 
almost  text-books,  because  they  are  so  highly  authori- 
tative in  the  Hnes  treated  upon. 

''In  The  Curtis  Publishing  Company *s  Commercial 
Research  Department  there  are  a  number  of  experi- 
enced investigators  who  have  traveled  in  practically 
every  country  in  the  United  States,  getting  accurate 
data  on  jobbing,  retail,  and  consumer  conditions.  In 
a  word,  The  Curtis  PubHshing  Company  has  en- 
deavored to  analyze  the  market  for  manufacturers 
as  no  one  has  done  it — even  the  manufacturers.  ^ 

"As  a  result,  when  important  advertising  campaigns 
are  under  consideration,  this  market  information  is 
submitted  to  the  advertiser  in  such  concrete  and  ac- 
curate shape  as  to  often  absolutely  determine  the 
manufactiurer  in  his  pubHcity  plans. 

''Furthermore,  the  speakers  of  the  Commercial  Re- 
search Department  have  met  with  scores  of  sales  or- 
ganizations to  lay  facts  before  them  and  to  enthuse 
them  to  the  true  possibilities  of  the  plans  in  hand. 

"The  Curtis  PubHshing  Company  has  not  stopped 
in  its  duty  to  itself  or  to  the  advertiser  or  to  the  ad- 
vertising agent  on  questions  of  ethics  or  expense.  In- 
stead The  Curtis  PubHshing  Company  has  been  a 
great  influence  in  standardizing  advertising  procedure, 
dignifying  advertising  and  putting  it  on  a  soHd  basis. 
"Many  other  pubHshers  are  working  along  the  same 
highly  organized  and  scientific  Hnes.  We  have  had 
instances  where  pubHshers  have  placed  in  our  hands 
information  on  trade  conditions  that  has  insured  the 
success  of  campaigns  and  perpetuated  business  that 
must  otherwise  have  failed. 

"Furthermore,  the  work  of  magazine  pubHshers  in 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      373 

arousing  in  dealers,  salesmen,  and  clerks  a  proper  ap- 
preciation of  advertising  and  advertised  products, 
has  been  of  incalculable  value.  This  has  not  only 
been  undertaken,  but  it  has  been  continued  for  many 
years  persistently  and  systematically. 

"We  do  not  mention  magazine  advertisers  here  to 
be  an  irritation  to  newspaper  publishers,  but  because 
there  exists  for  a  fact  a  service  to  advertisers  that 
must  have  the  cognizance  of  many  newspaper  pub- 
lishers who  are  lagging. 

"In  these  days  of  newspaper  associations  there  is  op- 
portunity for  organized  effort  that  means  a  great  deal 
for  the  future  of  advertising  in  daily  papers.  Adver- 
tisers now  know  that  through  the  Audit  Bureau  of 
Circulations  they  can  buy  definite  value.  They  can 
get  circulations  analyzed  accurately  and  dependably, 
so  that  they  can  plan  sales  scientifically  both  in  the 
town  of  publication  and  in  surrounding  territory. 
Service  of  this  character  is  in  itself  most  practical 
co-operation. 

"In  our  opinion,  if  it  is  in  order  here,  we  feel  that 
such  auditing  has  put  newspaper  advertising  on  a 
definite  basis  of  purchase,  and  has  given  the  foreign 
advertiser  such  confidence  in  circulation  and  rates  as 
to  have  made  one  of  the  most  significant  steps  in 
recent  newspaper  advertising  developments. 

"When  rates  for  foreign  advertising  are  standardized 
on  a  par  with  local  advertising,  it  is  our  opinion  that 
this  will  also  be  a  point  of  radical  improvement. 

"In  summarizing  our  view  of  newspaper  co-opera- 
tion, oiu-  merchandizing  experience  with  a  number 
of  advertisers  is  that  the  newspaper  publisher  has  it 
in  his  power  to  assure  the  success  of  the  foreign 
advertiser  through  making  ready  and  keeping  normal 


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374      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

his  local  market.  This  calls  for  education  of  the  con- 
sumer, the  dealer,  and  the  education  and  stimulation 
of  the  sales  force  that  places  the  goods  in  the  news- 
paper territory. 

"Furthermore,  there  must  be  forthcoming  from  the 
territory  of  the  newspaper  accurate  information  on 
distribution,  market  conditions,  progress  of  sales 
work,  that  will  enable  the  advertiser  to  know  exactly 
what  considerations  affected  the  inauguration  and 
progress  of  the  advertising  campaign. 

"It  is,  in  our  opinion,  within  the  province  of  the 
newspaper,  in  its  own  interest  and  that  of  the  adver- 
tiser, to  manage  this.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
when  the  newspaper  can  show  that  the  market  it 
covers  is  in  cultivated  shape  for  the  invasion  of  the 
advertiser,  it  makes  much  more  effective  the  work 
of  its  own  foreign  representative  and  all  advertising 

agents. 

"Perhaps  in  time  it  may  be  necessary  to  adjust  ad- 
vertising rates  so  that  co-operation  with  the  local 
advertiser  and  the  foreign  advertiser  shall  be  included 
as  a  customary  performance. 

"One  thing,  in  conclusion,  we  recommend  to  the 
consideration  of  newspaper  publishers,  is  that  adver- 
tising is  seldom  bought  for  publicity  value  alone. 
Certainly  our  company  sells  advertising  for  its  mer- 
chandizing value,  which  is  its  value  as  an  aid  to  sell- 
ing— its  value  as  an  aid  in  getting  the  product  from 
the  factory  to  the  consumer.  If  the  newspaper  pub- 
lisher realizes  that  the  foreign  advertiser  regards  the 
newspaper  strictly  as  a  merchandizing  medium,  then 
service  and  co-operation  become  part  of  the  regular 
business  of  the  newspaper.  When  this  merchan- 
dizing   service   or   co-operation   is   scientifically   or- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     375 

ganized,  it  will  be  found  to  be,  not  an  expense,  not 
a  drain  upon  the  resources  of  the  newspaper,  but  it 
will  be  found  to  reduce  selling  expense,  entrench  the 
newspaper  with  its  readers,  dealers,  and  local  and 
foreign  advertisers,  and,  in  the  final  analysis,  increase 
the  newspaper's  value  to  its  owners,  readers,  and 
advertisers." 


^Hwll 


I 


LVI 

The  National  Agency.-H.  K.  McCann 

WKm.o  from  the  viewpoint  '^^^^^ 

consistent  ^°:°P^^^  g^^^  too,  to  look  back,  even 
agencies.  It  1%^^^^"^";^'  and  note  how  this  spint 
over  the  space  of  a  few  y^^^^^^^;  "  jy  remains,  hov.- 
of  co-operation  has  grown.  Jhe^^^^^'^^^^^  j^  general 
ever   much  that  new^ap^^^^^^^^^^ 

can  do  for  one  anotner  lo  p  ^^^^^ 

advertising,  and  we  may  ^e  able  t^see  _^^^^_ 

eiearly  XJ:^T:m^^o::^^^^'y  U  where 
est  If  we  first  examine  a  ^^^  ^^  ^^.^^^ 

the  agency  rea%  Jands  in  t  „,^    aper  pub- 

At  first  glance  it  may  seem  .^j^^ 

Usher  that  most  of  f  ^/r^PJaS'  is  on  his  side. 

agency  men  seem  ^°J°"f  °^ g^m'  o  do  more,  and 
as  if  it  were  an  excuse  for  asking        ^^^  ^^^.^^^ 

n^ore  and  more_     He  -  apt  t       g  ^^.^^  ^^  ^^  .^^ 

^^"''Ll^n  Would  his  feeling  in  the  matter 
^hS:  i?  hi  ameTo  consider  the  agent  -t  as  the 
buyefof  his  space,  but  the  man  who  sells  his  space 

^°'J'''^\y..t  TDoint  of  view  the  agent  who  asks  co- 
opSn'f  n'oHLply  ti^ng  to  get  something  for 


!i 


It] 


H.    K.    MCCANN 

President,  H.  K.  McCann  Advertising  Agency,  New  York,  who  won  his  spurs  as 
advertising  manager  of  the  New  York   Telephone  Company   and   the   Standard 

Oil  Company, 


I  I 


5 


1; 


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BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      377 

nothing.  He  is  trying  to  develop  easier  and  surer 
ways  of  selling  the  newspaper's  advertising  space. 

To  the  publishers  of  a  paper  a  thousand  miles  away 
from  the  agency  headquarters,  no  less  than  to  that 
publisher's  local  representative,  who  goes  directly 
after  the  business,  the  agent  comes  to  seem  the  close- 
fisted  guardian  of  an  appropriation  which  he  hoards 
as  jealously  as  a  miser  from  those  who  try  to  get 
space  orders  from  him. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  first  getting  an  appropria- 
tion, the  agent  was  himself  selling  space.  And  on 
what  basis  did  he  have  to  sell  it?  Advertisers  are 
shrewder  buyers  of  space  than  they  were  some  years 
ago.  They  do  not  buy  **blue  sky"  any  more,  neither 
does  the  high-class  modern  agency  think  of  trying  to 
sell  it  to  them. 

When  the  agency  man  goes  to  an  advertiser  and 
asks  for  a  newspaper  appropriation,  the  advertiser 
at  once  asks  back,  "What  do  I  get?"  And  it  soon 
becomes  apparent  that  he  expects  to  get  something 
more  than  a  list  of  papers  with  their  circulations  and 
rates. 

What,  then,  is  the  big  thing  that  the  newspaper  can 
offer?  Direct  local  influence,  of  course;  wider  dis- 
tribution ;  more  intensive  sales  activity.  But  the  ad- 
vertiser still  asks  for  proof  of  this,  and  the  agency 
comes  direct  to  the  point  where  it  has  to  produce 
that  proof  in  the  form  of  newspaper  co-operation  in 
order  to  sell  that  newspaper  space. 

What,  then,  does  the  agency  need  from  the  paper, 
and  for  what  is  it  entitled  to  ask?  In  the  first  place, 
the  agency  should  be  fortified  with  a  thorough  ap- 
preciation of  the  commercial  possibilities  of  any  given 
town  through  the  accumulation  of  statistical  matter, 


'     ( 


I?    i 


II 


r^f 


i  i 


It    I 


378      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

which  gives  a  fair  and  comprehensive  view  of  whole- 
sale and  retail  trading  conditions  in  a  community, 
the  buying  power  and  characteristic  needs  and  tastes 
of  the  community,  and  all  information  on  the  policies 
of  local  trade  associations  which  might  affect  distribu- 
tion and  sales. 

Such  definite  information  as  the  number  of  drug 
or  grocery  stores  in  a  town,  their  approximate  ratings 
(as  an  index  of  the  volume  of  trade  they  command), 
is  most  helpful.  This  enables  the  agent  to  put  be- 
fore the  advertiser  a  definite  picture  of  the  oppor- 
tunities which  that  town  offers,  and  to  convince  him 
that  it  is  a  field  which  is  worth  cultivation. 

The  editorial  policy  of  a  paper,  the  class  of  readers 
it  reaches,  and  the  confidence  which  the  editorial 
columns  inspire  in  the  advertising  columns,  are  also 
points  of  great  value.  While  politics,  local  or  na- 
tional, are  no  concern  whatever  of  the  agency,  broad 
ethics  are  questions  which  involve  and  determine  the 
class  of  readers  the  paper  reaches,  their  mental  atti- 
tude and  receptivity.  This  brings  in  very  definitely 
the  question  of  the  censoring  of  the  advertising 
columns,  the  elimination  of  all  objectionable  matter 
and  of  all  extravagant  or  misleading  claims.  A  paper, 
whose  readers  have  learned  by  sad  experience  to  dis- 
count all  they  read  in  its  advertising  columns,  has 
not  a  great  deal  to  offer  the  foreign  advertiser  who 
comes  in  with  a  straightforward,  honest  story,  and 
has  not  yet  had  an  opportunity  to  build  up  a  personal 
confidence  in  his  product. 

This  brings  us  directly  to  the  question  of  dealer  in- 
fluence and  the  promotion  of  dealer  good-will  for  the 
advertiser.  As  a  matter  of  general  poHcy,  a  paper 
should  keep  the  dealers  within  its  circulating  radius 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      379 

thoroughly  sold  on  the  value  of  its  advertising  space. 
Some  employ  service  men  who  call  on  the  dealers, 
not  primarily  to  solicit  business,  but  to  keep  these 
dealers  always  convinced  of  the  demand-creating 
power  of  the  paper's  columns.  They  strive  to  get  the 
dealer's  assistance  in  making  an  advertising  cam- 
paign a  success,  something  which  is  really  to  their 
mutual  advantage.  The  dealer  can  be  induced  to 
give  prominent  display  to  the  goods  dui:ing  the  run 
of  the  campaign,  to  use  window  displays  or  counter 
cut-outs,  and  to  instruct  his  clerks  to  get  behind 
the  campaign  and  push  the  goods,  and  so  cash  in  on 
the  advertising. 

In  some  cases  newspapers  have  been  of  the  very 
greatest  assistance  in  actually  helping  distribution, 
advising  dealers  of  the  campaign  that  is  to  be  launched, 
and  persuading  them  to  stock  the  goods  in  anticipa- 
tion of  it.  This  does  not  mean  so  much  that  the 
paper  is  asked  to  go  out  and  sell  the  goods  as  that, 
for  its  own  sake,  it  should  insure  against  the  adver- 
tising being  a  failure.  If  the  campaign  is  launched, 
and  the  dealers,  not  being  stocked,  cannot  meet  the 
demand  that  arises,  the  story  soon  spreads  itself  on 
the  manufacturer's  sales  sheets  back  home,  and  the 
paper  is  tagged  as  "not  pulling  "  and  the  comm'unity 

as  "dead." 

Co-operation  of  this  kind  should  not  be  asked  too 
freely,  and  cannot  fairly  be  asked  at  all  unless  a  sub- 
stantial advertising  contract  goes  with  the  request. 
But  it  does  sometimes  happen  that  a  national  cam- 
paign is  launched  of  such  a  scope  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  manufacturer's  salesmen  to  cover  all  the 
ground— all  points— at  once,  and  the  whole  success 
of  the  campaign,  which  means  the  continuance  or  the 


i 


ii 


:l    \ 


•I 


i 


I 


380      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

withholding  of  subsequent  campaigns,  may  depend 
on  the  extent  to  which  the  newspapers  do  this  work. 

The  manufacturer's  argument  is  simple.  "I  am 
told,"  he  says,  ''that  advertising  in  this  paper  will 
induce  the  dealer  to  stock  my  goods  and  the  public 
to  buy  them.  If  the  paper  has  not  enough  influence 
with  the  dealer  to  stock  in  advance  on  the  strength 
of  the  advertising,  what  reason  have  I  to  suppose  the 
advertising  alone  will  ever  do  it?" 

Where  salesmen  do  make  a  town  there  are  many 
ways  in  which  the  local  papers  may  be  of  help  to 
them.  If  the  salesman  is  a  stranger,  he  may  be 
saved  much  time  and  labor  by  a  Httle  advice  on  his 
routing,  the  layout  of  the  town,  how  he  can  arrange 
his  calls  in  a  more  or  less  straight  line,  and  take  most 
advantage  of  the  existing  transit  facilities.  Letters  of 
introduction  to  particular  dealers  of  prominence, 
calling  attention  to  the  advertising  that  is  running, 
or  planned,  and  expressing  confidence  alike  in  the 
goods  and  in  the  power  of  the  paper  itself  to  move 
them,  are  often  very  helpful. 

Here,  again,  where  a  paper  employs  service  men 
for  such  work,  they  can  be  tremendously  helpful  in 
calling  on  dealers,  either  with  or  without  the  manu- 
facturer's salesmen,  and  working  for  the  installation 
of  the  window  and  counter  displays. 

It  often  happens  that  there  are  certain  conditions 
in  a  town  which  call  for  special  treatment  in  adver- 
tising or  merchandizing  a  product,  and  in  these  cases, 
too,  service  men  can  be  very  helpful  in  that  they  have 
at  their  fingers'  ends  information  which  it  might 
take  a  salesman  several  trips  to  accumulate  and 
digest. 

Some  papers  have  regular  show  windows  in  their 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      381 


offices,  just  like  the  show  windows  of  large  department 
stores,  and  in  these,  while  an  advertising  campaign 
is  running,  the  publisher  will  set  up  a  display,  either 
of  his  own  or  of  the  advertiser's  manufacture,  showing 
the  article  being  advertised,  and  calling  attention 
to  the  notices  of  it  in  his  paper.  There  are,  however, 
comparatively  few  newspaper  offices  so  located  or 
constructed  that  they  can  do  this,  and  warmly  as  an 
advertiser  would  appreciate  such  co-operation,  he 
would  hardly  feel  justified  in  asking  for  it. 

The  main  point  is  that  all  such  work  as  has  been  sug- 
gested in  the  foregoing  is  of  very  direct  and  definite 
help  to  the  agent,  not  only  in  selling  a  particular 
paper  or  a  particular  campaign,  but  in  making  the 
manufacturer  a  consistent  and  confident  user  of  news- 
paper space  in  future  campaigns.  The  agent  and  the 
newspapers  are,  after  all,  on  the  same  side  of  the 
fence — both  interested  in  the  development  of  adver- 
tising— and  when  the  agent  asks  for  co-operation  he 
is  showing  the  publisher  easier  ways  of  selling  space, 
or  surer  methods  of  selling  more  space «  and  not  simply 
trying  to  make  the  publisher  work  extra  hard  for 
his  money. 


|;li 


LVII 

The  Vital  Things. — John  Lee  Mahin 

John  Lee  Mahin,  a  man  whose  reputation  as  a 
successful  advertising  expert  extends  throughout  the 
country,  has  for  years  been  a  strong  advocate  of 
close  co-operation  between  the  buyer  and  seller  of 
advertising  and  is  entitled  to  speak  as  an  authority. 

He  built  up  a  big  agency  business  in  Chicago,  which 
he  sold  and  came  to  New  York  seeking  wider  fields, 
and  finally  became  associated  with  Mr.  Tinsman  in 
the  Federal  Advertising  Agency.  Mr.  Mahin  has 
written  several  important  books  on  advertising  and  is 
always  read  with  interest. 

What  Mr.  Mahin  says  on  the  subject: 

**The  most  vital  thing  that  a  newspaper  publisher 
can  do  to  help  advertising  agencies  create  new  adver- 
tisers for  newspapers  is  to  understand  what  a  creative 
advertising  agency  is. 

"Mr.  Jason  Rogers's  purpose  in  publishing  this  boDk 
commands  the  most  hearty  co-operation  of  every 
advertising  agency,  because  it  is  a  long  step  forward 
in  that  direction. 

"Mr.  Robert  Tinsman's  article  in  this  book  is  the 
most  comprehensive  presentation  of  the  functions 
of  the  modem  creative  agency  that  it  has  ever  be<3n 
my  pleasure  to  read. 


I 

3 
•1 


■0. 


1 


I 


I  ^1 


JOHN   LEE   MAHIN 

Now  a  Director  of  the  Federal  Advertising  Agency  of  New  York  and  for  years 

identified  with  advertising  at  Chicago. 


I 


1*1 


I    * 

i 


-    I 


i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     383 

"The  next  most  vital  thing  that  every  newspaper 
publisher  can  do  is  to  equip  himself  to  furnish,  at  a 
moment's  notice,  up-to-date  information  regarding 
the  field  he  covers. 

**If,  in  addition  to  the  population,  occupation,  earn- 
ing power,  manufacturing  and  agricultural  statistics 
furnished  by  the  United  States  Census  Bureau,  the 
publishers  could  give  lists  of  dealers  engaged  in  various 
kinds  of  business,  together  with  their  addresses,  com- 
mercial ratings,  and  the  name  of  the  man  who  in 
each  instance  is  interested  in  pushing  well-advertised 
goods,  he  would  indeed  perform  a  great  service. 

'*  A  publisher  must  remember  that  no  advertiser  can 
afford  to  use  space  in  his  paper  unless  adequate  dis- 
tribution can  be  secured.  To  get  this  distribution 
now  often  requires  the  services  of  expensive  specialty 
salesmen,  who  are  hard  to  get,  costly  to  train,  and 
who  must  work  hard  and  fast  in  order  to  pay  their 
way. 

"I  have  worked  with  a  number  of  newspaper  pub- 
lishers in  various  try-out  campaigns,  and  all  agree 
with  me  that  a  publisher's  trying  to  sell  the  adver- 
tiser's goods  to  the  merchant  is  a  mistake.  It  gives 
both  the  advertiser  and  the  merchant  the  wrong  idea 
about  advertising.  Goods  should  be  sold  because 
of  their  merit,  and  not  because  they  are  advertised. 

"■If  the  advertising  increases  the  cost  of  the  goods 
to  the  final  consumer,  it  is  in  a  precarious  condition, 
and  is  certainly  not  worthy  of  the  same  kind  of  co- 
operation on  the  part  of  publisher  and  agency  as 
advertising  which  reduces  the  cost  of  distribution  by 
increasing  the  volume  of  sales  and  stabilizing  market 
conditions. 

"Advertising  which  is  done  on  goods  handled  by 


ill 


Hi 


«•" 


I 


ll     I 

I. 


384     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

only  one  dealer  in  the  territory  where  the  newspaper 
circulates  is  not  worthy  of  much  co-operation  on 
the  publisher's  part.  It  usually  results  in  the  dealer's 
asking  for  the  control  of  the  advertising — taking  it 
out  of  the  agency's  hands — and  frequently  the  ap- 
propriation is  not  spent  in  the  newspapers  at  all,  but 
in  the  many  catchpenny  schemes  which  are  dsdly 
presented  to  retailers  everywhere.  The  advertising 
that  means  most  to  the  publisher  is  that  which  is  put 
back  of  goods  on  which  universal  distribution  is  sought 
and  exclusive  selling  arrangements  are  refused. 

**The  department  stores  of  the  United  States  do 
less  than  5  per  cent,  of  the  total  business  in  the  lines 
which  they  handle.  The  small  specialty  shops,  the 
neighborhood  grocery,  the  drug  store,  the  retail 
jewelry  shop,  the  hardware  store,  the  lumber  yard, 
the  paint  store,  the  haberdashery,  the  millinery  par- 
lor, the  news-stand,  the  cigar  store,  the  lunch  counter, 
and  the  house-to-house  canvassers  do  the  other  95 
per  cent.  The  mail-order  house  may  get  a  little  of 
this  business,  but  certainly  less  than  the  department 
store. 

"The  biggest  problem  confronting  the  general  ad- 
vertiser is  to  show  these  small  shopkeepers — who 
rarely  do  or  could  advertise  in  the  newspapers — how 
to  cash  in  on  the  advertising  which  appears  in  thej 
daily  newspapers  that  they  themselves  read.  Thej 
newspaper  publisher  who  can  make  these  small  re- 
tailers feel  that  the  general  advertising  appearing  in 
his  paper  is  the  dealer's  own  advertising — if  he  uses  it 
— will  be  rendering  a  great  service  to  advertisers  and 
dealers,  and  certainly  to  newspaper  publishers. 

"Right  here  it  is  advisable  to  emphasize  an  error 
that  some  publishers  have  made  in  urging  dealers  to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      385 

handle  advertised  goods.  They  have  told  the  dealers 
that  the  advertising  will  sell  the  goods.  This  is  one  of 
those  'partly  true'  statements  that  do  much  more 
harm  than  good. 

"For  every  sale  made  for  an  indifferent  dealer  by 
advertising  at  least  twenty  sales — which  the  adver- 
tiser has  started  and  carried  along  at  least  half-way — 
can  be  made  by  the  dealers  who  display,  push,  and 
enthusiastically  get  back  of  the  goods  advertised. 

"Two  of  my  clients  have  positively  forbidden  my 
asking  publishers  to  call  on  dealers  with  reference 
to  the  goods  advertised  in  their  columns.  One  manu- 
facturer said  that  the  publishers  talked  too  much 
about  the  advertising,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  in- 
trinsic worth  of  the  goods  themselves,  giving  the 
dealers  the  impression  that  it  was  advertising  rather 
than  quality  that  the  goods  represented. 

"Both  these  advertisers  duly  appreciate  the  news- 
paper-man's knowledge  of  their  respective  fields,  and 
now  instruct  their  salesmen  to  call  upon  the  publisher 
whenever  confidential  information  with  regard  to  an 
obdurate  dealer  is  desired. 

"Publishers  can  and  should  refuse  to  permit  any 
cut-price  dealer  to  offer  goods  at  cut  prices  when 
these  same  goods  are  advertised  on  a  quality  basis  in 
their  columns.  They  should  insist  on  this  for  their 
own  sakes,  because  cutting  prices  on  staples  is  the 
surest  way  of  curbing  sales  with  dealers  who  make  a 
legitimate  profit. 

"  If  a  publisher  is  in  a  position  to  make  an  adequate, 
intelligent  canvass  of  goods  already  distributed  in  his 
section,  on  which  no  advertising  in  his  paper  is  being 
done,  he  can  often  start  advertising  under  the  most 
favorable  auspices, 


M 


y-.  ff 


A' 


386      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"In  making  such  a  canvass  he  should  be  careful  to 
have  the  information  gathered  by  men  who  will  not 
ask  the  dealer  leading  questions,  or  suggest  the  kind 
of  answer  desired.  Most  advertisers  are  of  the  opin- 
ion that  dealers  favor  the  publisher  in  answering  such 
questions,  and  particular  care  should  be  taken  that 
these  questions  are  framed  and  asked  in  the  same 
way  in  each  store.  Also,  the  correct  name  and  ad- 
dress of  each  dealer  should  be  given,  whether  the  pro- 
prietor or  clerk  answered  the  questions,  and  the  kind 
of  trade  to  which  the  store  caters — high-class,  medium 
or  low-wage  earners. 

**A  good  method  of  approach  is  as  follows:  'I  am 
not  going  to  buy  or  sell  you  anything,  but  will  greatly 
appreciate  a  little  information  which  I  am  sure  you 
can  give  me.*  Then  questions  like  these  might  be 
asked: 

(i)  What  is  your  leading  laundry  soap,  washing- 
powder,  cleanser,  roofing,  grape  juice,  etc.  ? 

(2)  What  sells  second,  third,  fourth,  etc.? 

(3)  What  prices  do  you  get  for  each? 

(4)  Is  the  trade  on increasing? 

(5)  How  much  do  you  sell  weekly  now? 

(6)  How  much  more  do  you  think  you  could  sell 
if  the  manufacturer  would  put  an  advertising  cam- 
paign in  the  (name  your  paper)  ? 

"A  canvass  with  short,  terse  answers  to  questions 
like  these  (all  alike  to  each  store),  arranged  in  logical 
and  convenient  form,  would  be  welcomed  by  practi- 
cally every  manufacturer. 

"Free  publicity  is  not  desired  by  the  best  advertisers 
or  by  creative  agencies,  but  it  will  be  asked  for  and 
expected  as  long  as  it  is  granted  at  all.  On  the  other 
hand,  articles  which  tend  to  build  up  the  idea  of 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      387 

sound  merchandizing,  and  to  teach  what  a  well- 
advertised  trade-mark  represents,  must  always  be 
regarded  as  a  beneficial  and  desirable  form  of  pub- 
lishers'  co-operation. 

"There  are  many  existent  things  that  agents  would 
like  to  see  changed,  but  they  are  of  minor  importance 
when  compared  to  the  great  general  purpose  of  de- 
veloping only  such  advertising  as  permanently  bene- 
fits the  readers  of  the  newspaper,  which,  consequently, 
must  be  the  best  kind  of  advertising  when  considered 
from  the  selfish  standpoint  of  both  newspaper  pub- 
lisher and  the  creative  advertising  agency." 


i!i 


!l 


LVIII 

Cost  of  Space  in  Newspaper  Campaigns. — 
William  H.  Rankin 

William  H.  Rankin,  president  of  the  W.  H. 
Rankin  Advertising  Agency,  Chicago,  presented  a 
most  interesting  and  instinctive  consideration  of  the 
cost  of  space  in  newspaper  campaigns  at  the  San 
Francisco  Convention  of  the  Associated  Advertising 
Club  in  July,  1918. 

Mr.  Rankin  bought  out  the  Mahin  Advertising 
Agency,  and  with  his  associate,  Wilbur  D.  Nesbit, 
has  been  performing  big  successful  feats  in  exploitci- 
tion  of  business  through  advertising. 

The  work  of  Messrs.  Rankin  and  Nesbit  in  Chicago 
for  the  Red  Cross  and  Liberty  Loans  was  the  bes;t 
and  most  effective  in  the  country,  and  was  ultimately 
adopted  and  duplicated  in  many  other  cities. 

Here  is  Mr.  Rankin's  wonderful  presentation  re- 
printed from  Printers'  Ink: 

"The  volume  of  newspaper  advertising  will  be  in- 
creased as  those  who  sell  advertising  and  those  who 
use  it  learn  more  about  its  value.  The  local  adver- 
tisers— department  stores  and  purely  local  pro- 
ducers and  dealers — know  its  value  and  economy. 
Lots  of  them,   however,  in  my  estimation,   do  not 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      389 

know  its  full  value,  but  simply  use  their  local  news- 
papers because  they  have  no  other  way  of  reaching 
the  people  and  feel  that  they  must  advertise. 

"Too  many  advertisers  look  at  the  cost  per  page  or 
per  insertion  and  never  get  far  enough  along  to  analyze 
what  they  buy  when  they  buy  newspaper  space. 
Generally  they  conclude:  'Newspaper  advertising  is 
expensive.     If  we  have  to  use  it,  let's  use  it  sparingly.' 

"There  are  exceptions  to  this.  These  exceptions 
are  the  most  successful  business  men  in  any  com- 
munity, and  the  most  successful  distributers  of  na- 
tionally known  products. 

"The  department  stores  know  what  newspaper  space 
is  worth  to  them,  and  that  is  why  you  see  them  using 
full  pages  and  double  pages  right  along.  They  know 
that  the  impressiveness  of  a  full  page  compared  to 
small  space  is  just  the  difference  between  a  public 
meeting  and  an  individual  visit. 

"Recently  I  had  the  opportunity  to  analyze  the 
cost   of  newspaper   advertising   for   one   of   the  big 
governmental  departments  in  Washington.     I  have 
always  felt  that  I  was  fairiy  well  posted  on  what 
newspaper  space  means,  and  have  always  sold  it  en- 
thusiastically—but I  was  surprised  at  the  facts  and 
figures  and  the  sales  points  the  analysis  brought  out. 
I  found  that  a  quarter  page  in  every  newspaper  m 
the  country— dailies,  weeklies,   bi-weeklies,  and  tri- 
weeklies,  could  be  bought   for  less  than   $200,000. 
This  gives  a  circulation  of  over  46,000,000— or  about 
two  copies  to  every  home  in  the  whole  United  States. 
"Think  that  over.    This  means  reaching  92 ,000,000 
homes  twice  with  every  dollar  spent,  or  a  cost  of 
seven-tenths   of   a   cent   for   carrying  your   message 
twice  to  every  home  in  the  land. 


i  '^t 


'ii 


'I 


390     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"Here  are  some  more  vitally  interesting  figures: 
"I  found  the  advertising  rate  in  newspapers  like 
The  Chicago  Daily  News,  $1,200;  The  Chicago  Sunday 
Tribune,  $971,29,  and  The  New  York  Times,  $829.12, 
and  per  page  per  home  delivery — Chicago  News,  less 
than  three-tenths  of  a  cent;  Chicago  Sunday  Tribune, 
159  thousandths  of  a  cent,  and  The  New  York  Times, 
201  thousandths  of  a  cent. 


ECONOMY    IN   THE    SERVICE 

"I  found  that  these  newspapers  pay  their  deliv€;ry 
boys  more  for  delivering  each  paper  into  a  home  than 
they  charge  the  advertiser  for  furnishing  the  white 
paper,  setting  the  type  and  printing  and  dehvering  the 
advertiser's  full  page  into  each  home.  That  if  the  £.d- 
vertiser  should  attempt  to  print  a  one-page  adv(3r- 
tising  dodger  the  white  paper  alone  would  cost  almost 
as  much  as  the  newspapers  charge  for  a  full-page  a,d- 
vertisement  in  a  newspaper  that  the  publishers  pay 
thousands  of  dollars  per  day  to  the  best  editorial 
news  writers  and  war  correspondents — ^to  edit. 

"Take,  for  instance,  The  Chicago  Daily  News:  Victor 
F.  Lawson  has  spent  forty  years  of  his  life  building 
up  the  prestige,  character,  and  standing  of  The  News 
— as  a  result  over  400,000  families  in  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago take  The  Daily  News  because  of  its  dependability 
and  because  they  know  they  can  believe  what  they 
read  in  both  the  news  and  the  advertising  columns  of 
The  News. 

*'Mr.  Lawson  has  spent  over  $25,000,000  in  building 
up  The  Chicago  Daily  News,  and  has  gained  the  con- 
fidence of  The  News  readers — and  yet  every  adver- 
tiser who  uses  The  News  can  buy  that  good-will  for 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     391 

his  product  when  he  advertises  in  The  Daily  News— 
all  he  has  to  pay  for  is  the  space,  the  white  paper, 
the  printing,  and  the  delivery  of  his  page  is  less  than 
three-tenths  of  a  cent  per  page  per  home. 

"Can  you  imagine  anywhere  you  can  get  as  much 
for  so  little  money?— and  what  is  true  of  The  News 
is  true  of  The  San  Francisco  Examiner,  Bulletin,  Call, 
News,  and  Chronicle,  and  of  nearly  every  newspaper 
in  the  United  States. 

"But  how  many  of  us  have  used  these  arguments 
to  help  us  increase  the  volume  of  newspaper  adver- 

tising  ? 

''It  took  the  war  to  bring  out  forcibly  to  the  gov- 
ernment, the  business  man,  the  banker,  and  the 
advertiser  the  full  value,  force  and  dominance  of  the 
full-page  ad.  in  the  daily  newspaper. 

"There  have  been  more  full-page  advertisements  m 
newspapers  during  the  past  year  than  any  previous 
three  years— used  to  promote  the  Red  Cross,  the 
Liberty  Loans,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Smileage,  K.  of  C, 
W.  S.  S.,  and  every  war  activity. 

"FrankR.  Wilson, advertising  director  of  the  Liberty 
Loan,  Washington,  has  just  sent  out  a  letter  from 

which  I  quote: 

"'Display  advertising  space  contributed  by  mer- 
chants and  publications  throughout  the  United  States 
has  become  one  of  the  most  important  avenues  for 
the    dissemination    of    government    appeals    to    buy 

Liberty  Bonds. 

"'During  the  first,  second,  and  third  Liberty  Loan 
campaigns  these  contributions  of  advertising  space 
amounted  to  millions  of  dollars.  Practically  every 
publication  in  the  United  States  carried  many  of 
these  advertisements  urging  the  people  to  buy  bonds. 


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392     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

**This  is  certainly  a  strong  indorsement  of  what  ad- 
vertising men  at  the  St.  Louis  convention  have  done 
at  that. 

Chicago's  red  cross  record  an  enviable  one 

"I  had  the  great  privilege  to  tell  you  of  the  pioneer 
Red  Cross  campaign  and  to  exhibit  the  forty-two  i'ull 
pages  that  made  it  possible  for  Chicago  to  increase  its 
Red  Cross  memberships  from  17,000  to  416,000  in 
four  weeks'  time.  The  total  cost  for  all  expenses  "v/as 
yj4  cents  per  member — compared  with  the  best  pre- 
vious record  (made  without  newspaper  advertising) 
of  16  cents  per  member;  thus  proving  for  all  time  to 
come  that  advertising  is  an  economy  and  not  an  ex- 
pense when  properly  used,  and  that  advertising  lowers 
the  cost  of  distribution. 

"You  will  remember,  too,  that  your  newspaper-nrien 
took  this  same  plan  and  used  it  in  nearly  every  city 
and  town  in  the  United  States — to  awaken  your  peo- 
ple to  their  responsibilities  in  this  war  and  to  show 
them  why  they  should  buy  Liberty  Bonds,  support 
the  Red  Cross,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  W.  S.  S.,  K.  of  C,  etc. 
As  a  result  of  that  great  convention  in  St.  Louis  over 
$5,000,000  worth  of  newspaper  advertising  has  beien 
bought  and  paid  for  by  business  men,  bankers,  and 
others  and  at  least  a  like  amount  has  been  bought  and 
paid  for  by  the  same  patriotic  business  men  in  maga- 
zines, farm  papers,  trade  papers,  billboard  and  painted 
signs. 

"These  men  realized  the  necessity  to  the  govern- 
ment of  dominant  advertising,  and  because  of  their 
faith  and  confidence  in  advertising  they  went  down 
into  their  own  pockets  and  paid  cash  for  this  adver- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      393 

tising  space  and  cheerfully  did  so  for  their  country  to 
help  win  the  war. 

"And  to  the  members  of  the  Associated  Advertising 
Clubs  of  the  World  belongs  the  credit  for  making 
these  men  realize  the  great  value  of  full-page  news- 
paper advertisements  to  mold  public  opinion  and  bring 
about  results  and  sales  never  before  reaHzed  in  all  the 
world's  history.  To  show  you  the  small  cost  for  the 
results  obtained  I  quote  from  The  Washington  Star: 

'*'Only  65/1000  of  I  per  cent,  was  the  Percentage 
of  Cost  of  Advertising. 

"  '$23,050,550  worth  of  bonds  were  sold.  $20,000,- 
000  was  Washington's  maximum  allotment. 

"'3,050,550  was  the  amount  Washington  exceeded 
its  allotment;    84,388  were  individual  subscribers. 

"'$15,000  was  the  total  amount  spent  for  adver- 
tising. 

"'Newspaper  advertising  is  the  dynamic  force  that 

helped  the  bankers  and  business  men  of  Washington 

make  the  Second  Liberty  Loan  a  tremendous  success. 

This  was  only  made  possible  by  the  wonderful  work 

done  by  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee  of  Washington 

and  the  hundred  or  more  volunteer  speakers  and 

workers  drawn  from  Washington's  splendid  citizens.' 

"In  Chicago  the  Second  Liberty  Loan  advertising 

was  financed  by  leading  business  men  who  voted  not 

to  have  their  names  mentioned  in  the  advertising, 

and  $85,000  was  raised  by  a  committee  headed  by 

Henry  Schott,  vice-president  of  Montgomery  Ward 

&  Co.,  and  here  is  how  it  was  spent  and  the  results: 

'"In  Chicago  we  sold  over  $177,000,000  to  239,500 

people  at  an  advertising  cost  of  27/ioooth  of  i  per 

cent,  or  2.7  cents  per  $100  bond  sold,  Chicago  having 

the  advantage  over  Washington  because  of  our  many 


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394      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

advertising  campaigns.  Over  one-fifth  of  the  total 
subscribers  to  Liberty  Bonds  were  from  the  Chicaj^^o 
district;  1,950,000  out  of  a  total  of  9,500,000.  There 
are  twelve  Federal  Reserve  districts. 

'"Costs  of  advertising  in  some  of  the  cities  per  $100 
bond  sold  were  as  follows:  Muncie,  Ind.,  2.4  cents; 
Chicago,  2.7  cents;  Saginaw,  Mich.,  2.7  cents;  Daven- 
port, la.,  2.9  cents;  Utica,  N.  Y.,  3.9  cents;  Clinton, 
la.,  5.4  cents;  Adrian,  Mich.,  5.5  cents;  Columbus, 
Ohio,  6.8  cents.' 

"There  should  be  a  movement  set  on  foot  here  to 
promote  the  idea  of  raising  a  War  Chest  fund  in  each 
city  and  state  to  take  care  of  the  advertising  for  all 
war  activity,  and  I  know  this  would  meet  with  the 
approval  of  business  men.  During  the  last  Red  Cross 
drive  one  of  our  big-hearted  Chicago  business  mi^n 
paid  for  the  entire  expense  of  newspaper  advertising 
and  supplementary  work — $50,000,  and  that  man's 
name  is  William  Wrigley,  Jr.,  one  of  the  worlcl's 
greatest  advertisers  and  one  that  knows  the  value  of 
newspaper  advertising. 

CAN    BE    APPLIED   COMMERCIALLY 

"Some  day  we  advertising  men  and  newspaper-m(3n 
will  use  these  same  big  ideas  and  big  space  in  news- 
papers for  popularizing  advertised  products,  and  wh(3n 
we  do  the  advertising  in  newspapers  will  increase  ten- 
fold and  the  advertisers  themselves  will  value  news- 
paper space  and  use  it  as  a  sales  force  just  as  the 
government  is  now  doing. 

"There  will  be  more  full-page  ads.  from  the  foreign 
advertising  field,  and  more  satisfied  users  of  news- 
paper space. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      395 

"And  we  can  do  this  better  if  there  is  more  team 
work — less  knocking  the  other  fellow's  paper. 

"More  confidence  in  each  other  and  more  care  in 
the  spending  of  the  advertiser's  money — to  see  that 
the  advertiser's  goods  are  in  nearly  every  available 
distributing  outlet — and  the  advertising  can  be  used 
to  help  secure  this  distribution  prior  to  the  appearance 
of  the  advertising. 

"In  other  words — the  advertising  must  be  mer- 
chandized and  sold  to  the  manufacturer's  salesmen  and 
to  the  wholesaler  and  the  retailer — just  as  it  has  been 
done  to  the  salesmen  who  have  sold  Liberty  Bonds. 

"To  answer  directly  the  question,  How  to  Increase 
the  Volume  of  Newspaper  Advertising  Now.^  I  would 
say: 

"ist.  Divide  the  country  into  twelve  districts,  just 
as  the  Liberty  Loan  has  divided  the  country  into 
twelve  Federal  Reserve  districts. 

"2d.  Have  a  newspaper  chairman  and  Promotion 
Committee  in  charge  of  each  district. 

"3d.  Have  these  men  report  to  the  Bureau  of 
Advertising  of  the  A.  N.  P.  A.  This  bureau  is  cer- 
tainly doing  good  work  for  the  newspaper  and  can 
do  even  better  if  more  newspapers  support  it.  The 
newspapers  are  fortunate  in  having  men  of  the  business 
caliber  of  Wm.  A.  Thomson  and  Thos.  H.  Moore  to 
direct  this  bureau. 

"4th.  Prepare  campaigns  based  on  expenditures 
from  $10,000,  $20,000,  $50,000,  and  $100,000  in  each 
district.  Let  advertisers  know  how  many  thousands 
of  people  they  can  reach  and  how  often  for  less  than 
the  price  of  any  other  medium. 

"  5th.  The  zone  system  should  work  out  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  newspapers — I   mean  freight  zone — and 


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396      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

manufacturers  in  each  district  should  be  educated 
to  build  up  their  businesses  to  the  maximum  in  their 
own  district  now,  and  thus  relieve  the  freight  and  pas- 
senger traffic  congestion. 

''6th.  Find  out  what  products  the  government 
wants  to  have  sold.  Just  now  'Use  More  Milk'  is  the 
slogan  of  the  Food  Administration,  therefore  there 
should  be  more  milk  advertising — fresh  and  canned 
milk.  Vegetable  oils  should  and  are  being  advertised 
to  take  the  place  of  lard  with  the  approval  of  the  Food 
Department. 

"7th.  Another  way  to  increase  advertising  just 
now  is  to  have  the  produce  dealers  advertise  fruits 
and  vegetables  that  are  plentiful  in  each  locality, 
so  that  the  people  will  buy  local  products  and  not 
make  it  necessary  for  farmers  to  ship  their  produce  cind 
fruit  by  freight  or  express.  You  can  readily  see  how 
this  will  help  the  railroad  situation  just  now. 

"8th.  Combination  advertising  campaign  based 
on  the  same  plan  that  has  been  so  successful  for  'ihe 
Red  Cross  and  Liberty  Loan  may  be  extended  to 
insurance  companies,  real  estate,  bankers,  grocers, 
bakers,  dairymen,  laundries,  and  hundreds  of  otJier 
lines  of  business  which  have  not  yet  'let  the  people 
know'  all  about  their  business. 

"And  to  you  salesmen  of  advertising  I  will  give 
my  War  Thrift  Message  to  Salesmen  and  Advertisers, 
which,  if  followed,  will  help  you  increase  the  volume 
of  space  which  you  sell — day  by  day. 

THE    salesman's   THRIFT 

"Keep  Busy! 

"That's  the  power  behind  every  success. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      397 

"Let's  make  more  calls  a  day.  Let's  write  more 
sales  a  day. 

"Let's  put  more  honest  effort  into  every  call  and 
every  sale. 

"Then  we'll  sell  in  one  day  what  we  used  to  sell 
in  two. 

"That  is  thrift. 

"Thrift  of  time — the  salesmen's  thrift. 

"Time  is  all  valuable,  the  most  precious  thing  we 
have.  We  have  abundant  time,  but  only  if  we  con- 
serve it.  Spend  it  carefully.  Make  each  hour,  each 
minute  count.  Make  it  count  for  ourselves,  for  our 
employers,  and  for  our  country. 

"If  we  conserve  time,  we  shall  be  helping  ourselves 
and  our  families;  we  shall  be  helping  business;  we 
shall  be  helping  to  win  the  war,  and  preserve  hu- 
manity. 

"So  work!  And  keep  on  working.  Work  moves 
mountains.    Work  makes  the  impossible  possible. 

"Work  with  your  customers.  This  is  team  work. 
Help  them  breathe  your  spirit  of  work  into  their  or- 
ganizations. Help  them  make  their  workers  time- 
thrifty.  Show  them  by  example  the  benefits  of  con- 
structive, not  destructive  work. 

"Therefore  don't  knock  anybody.  And  don't  let 
others  knock.  Don't  criticize  till  you  have  a  tried- 
out  remedy.  A  knocker  is  a  time  spendthrift.  He 
squanders  the  time  of  himself  and  his  listener. 

"Knocking  has  no  part  in  a  salesman's  creed. 

"Boost. 
Scatter  optimism  broadcast.  You  can't  squander  it. 
Be  time-thrifty  for  your  employer,  for  business, 
and  your  country,  and  you  can't  help  being  thrifty 
for  yourself. 

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398      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

*'Then  you  will  lift  yourself  by  your  own  bo(3t- 
straps;  you  will  lengthen  your  height  and  vision  to 
reach  whatever  you  work  to  get. 

"To  be  thrifty  you  must  be  creative.  To  be  cn^a- 
tive  you  must  work  to  do  in  one  hour  the  work  that 
we  formerly  did  in  two. 

THE   advertiser's   THRIFT 

"Keep  Busy!    Yourself  and  your  advertising. 

"Make  your  advertising  to-day  do  twice  what  it 
did  yesterday.     It  can. 

"Advertising  is  the  matchless  messenger  of  war- 
times. It  speeds  your  message  on  wings  fast  as 
thought,  and  cries  it  in  a  breath  from  the  housetops 
and  steeples  of  the  nation. 

"Whenever  the  government  must  get  quick  word 
to  our  people,  and  an  answer  as  quickly,  it  enlists 
advertising.  The  Liberty  Loans,  the  Red  Cross 
campaigns,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Knights  of  Columbus, 
Smileage,  all  bear  willing  witness  to  the  wonder-work 
of  advertising. 

"For  it  is  the  great  time-saver,  and  time  to  do  all 
we  must  do  is  the  task  of  the  times. 

'  *  Time-thrift  is  war-thrift.  And  advertising  is  time- 
thrift. 

"It  is  the  thrifty  way  to  get  your  message  to  your 

country. 

"It  is  the  quick  educator,  the  sure  inspirer.  ^ 
"Be  thrifty  with  your  advertising.     Don't  stint;  it. 

Make  the  most  of  it.    First  be  sure  of  your  message; 

then  put  the  efficiency  test  to  the  means  of  spreading 

it.     Scrutinize  your  space.     Usefulness  has  the  right 

of  way  over  artistry. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     399 

"Some  advertisers  are  making  their  advertising  do 
double  duty,  working  for  their  country  selling  Liberty 
Bonds  and  Savings  Stamps  as  it  sells  for  themselves. 
Think  how  you  can  make  your  advertising  a  two- 
mouthed  salesman. 

"Don't  stop  advertising.  War-time  is  no  time  to 
stop  anything,  except  wasted  time.  Advertising  has 
uses  it  never  had  before.  Look  into  its  new  and 
special  uses  for  yourself. 

"It  will  save  time  for  you  and  your  men  in  what- 
ever you  are  doing. 

"Use  advertising  to  be  time -thrifty  and  war- 
thrifty." 


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LIX 


Some  Ideals. — 5.  Wilbur  Corman 

(An  address  before  the  Southern  Newspaper  Pub- 
lishers' Association  at  Asheville,  North  Carolina, 
June,  1915-) 

The  first  plank  of  my  platform  is  that  newspap(jrs 
constitute  the  greatest  form  of  advertising  media; 
the  second  plank  is  that  you  newspaper  publish(3rs 
have  a  gold-mine  that  you  don't  know  how  to  woi^k, 
and  that,  as  far  as  national  advertising  is  concemcid, 
it  is  being  accomplished  without  your  aid  in  proper 
degree,  because  you  Heralds  of  Modernity  are  the 
most  behind-the-times  men  in  appreciation  of  your 
own  opportunities  and  your  own  value  that  the 
business  world  can  exhibit. 

Most  of  you  will  readily  admit  the  correctness  of 
my  first  plank,  so  I'll  put  that  aside  for  later  con- 
sideration and  take  up  plank  number  two,  with  some 
attention  to  detail. 

Basically,  newspaper-men  do  not  believe  in  adver- 
tising. With  rare  exceptions,  the  advertising  agency 
and  the  publisher  are  the  poorest  advertisers  in 
America.  A  newspaper-man  had  rather  do  anything 
else  than  spend  some  real  money  (all  of  which  he 
has  earned  from  advertising)  for  some  advertising  for 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      401 

himself.  If  he  ever  does  get  his  courage  screwed  up 
to  the  point  of  printing  an  ad.  in  his  own  paper  (where 
it  costs  him  absolutely  nothing,  and  generally  earns 
him  a  reward  proportionate  to  its  cost),  the  ad.  is 
usually  the  poorest  example  of  advertising  in  the 
paper — ^poorly  written  and  poorly  arranged  typo- 
graphically— a  bunch  of  brag  and  bluff  and  bluster  of 
a  sort  that  would  send  any  business  house  into  bank- 
ruptcy if  it  adopted  publicity  of  a  similar  t3rpe.  .  .  . 

The  newspaper  publisher  with  his  stock  of  mer- 
chandise (which  is  white  space  for  the  advertisers 
of  this  nation  to  utilize  to  their  high  advantage)  does 
not,  broadly  speaking,  fix  his  prices,  terms,  and  con- 
ditions with  any  scientific  regard  for  to-day  or  to- 
morrow, but  with  almost  slavish  fidelity  does  he  face 
the  past  and  ask,  "How  have  these  things  always 
been  done  and  what  do  my  fellow-publishers  do?" 

The  whole  newspaper  rate  question  needs  disin- 
fecting, fumigating,  and  deodorizing.  You  will  gather 
from  my  remarks  that  I  consider  it  to  be  in  a  bad 
state  of  decay.  A  similar  price  to  all  customers  under 
like  conditions  is  generally  regarded  as  simple  busi- 
ness honesty,  and  yet  the  newspaper  which,  under 
any  circumstances  or  conditions,  will  not  in  any  man- 
ner, shape,  or  form  make  any  rebates,  discounts, 
or  concessions  of  any  kind  or  character  is  a  rara 
avis. 

How  many  of  you  will  not,  for  my  house,  give  a 
free  insertion  or  a  reading  notice  or  concession  of 
some  kind  ?  Do  you  answer  me  that  my  house  should 
not  ask  for  such  things,  fight  for  them,  demand  them, 
yes,  almost  force  them?  Well,  I  reply  that  if  we  did 
not  do  so  we  should  soon  be  badly  in  need  of  cus- 
tomers, because  if  we  do  not  sell  these  things  for  our 


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402     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

clients  some  other  agent  will;  and  as  long  as  adv<3r- 
tisers  want  such  things  and  newspapers  grant  them, 
we,  as  an  agent,  must  ask  for  them  and  contend  for 
them  as  a  simple  matter  of  primary  self -protection. 

We  never  know  what  day  we  will  lose  a  good  ac- 
count because  we  have  tried  to  be  fair  and  decent, 
and  some  less  scrupulous  agent  has  cooked  up  a 
plan  whereby,  with  the  connivance  of  a  lot  of  weak- 
kneed  newspaper  publishers,  he  has  assured  our  cUesnt 
of  that  guttering  bauble  desired  by  so  many  adver- 
tisers— ** something  for  nothing." 

Dilly-dallying  with  newspapers  for  concessions  of 
various  kinds  costs  us  time  and  money,  and  earns  no 
commissions.  You  gentlemen,  I  think,  have  no  ade- 
quate appreciation  of  all  the  annoying  angles  of  this 
proposition  from  the  viewpoint  of  an  advertising 
house  which  is  devoting  its  entire  time  and  talcmt 
to  the  creation  and  development  of  advertising,  and 
yet  is  subject  to  the  constant  competition  of  otlier 
agents  keen  and  skilful  in  the  manipulation  of  news- 
paper rates  and  rules. 

I  recently  failed  in  the  solicitation  of  an  automobile 
tire  account,  and  the  president  of  the  company  told 
me  privately  that  he  had  been  promised  by  the  suc- 
cessful agent  a  definite  number  of  inches  of  free  read- 
ing matter  for  every  column  of  paid  space  he  useci  in 
his  newspaper  list.  I  had  refused  to  promise  anything 
but  the  best  service  my  house  could  give  him  for 
every  dollar  he  spent  with  us. 

All  the  associations  you  can  organize  won't  stop 
this  sort  of  thing.  Get  together  and  resolute  until 
you  are  black  in  the  face,  and  you  won't  stop  rt. 

We  do  not  ask  The  Curtis  Publishing  Company  for 
concessions,  because  we  know  we  will  not  get  them, 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      403 

and  because  we  know  no  other  agent  will  get  them. 
This  is  true,  not  because  Cyrus  Curtis  belongs  to  the 
Periodical  Publishers'  Association,  but  because  he  is 
Cyrus  Curtis — able,  independent,  and  square.  We 
may  not  agree  with  him  on  some  points,  but  we  know 
just  where  he  stands,  and  when  we  tell  a  client  what 
we  can  do  for  him  in  The  Saturday  Evening  Post,  or 
The  Ladies'  Home  Journal,  or  The  Country  Gentleman ^ 
we  waste  no  time  in  wondering  if  some  other  agent 
can  promise  or  deliver  more.  .  .  . 

Let's  look  at  another  phase  of  the  newspaper  rate 
situation  that  is  very  discouraging  to  the  national 
advertiser.  Even  assuming  that  rates  are  fully  main- 
tained, there  is  to  my  mind  a  gross  injustice  done 
under  the  present  system  of  rate  making.  No  one 
shall  surpass  me  in  my  admiration  of  the  modem 
department  stores  as  a  great  merchandise  distribu- 
ting machine,  and  as  a  community  convenience  of 
high  order;  but  its  cost  to  the  community  it  serves, 
and  particularly  the  newspapers  of  the  community, 
should  also  be  taken  into  consideration. 

That  the  big  buyers  should  have  the  best  price 
is  a  very  well  established  principle  in  many  lines 
of  business,  but  in  some  other  lines  it  is  absolutely 
unsound,  uneconomic,  and  hurtful.  The  big  customer 
of  N.  W.  Ayer  &  Son  gets  his  advertising  advice  and 
service  at  no  lower  rate  of  commission  than  the  adver- 
tiser of  small  size.  The  big  user  of  advertising  space 
in  many  of  our  highest  class  periodicals  pays  exactly 
the  same  rate  per  line,  per  inch,  or  per  page  that  is 
charged  the  most  modest  advertiser  in  the  publication. 

Department  stores  themselves  are  great  advocates 
of  the  "one-price-to-all"  theory,  and  in  many  first- 
class  stores  you  or  I  would  pay  the  same  price  per 


t 


m 


404      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

yard  for  one  or  a  hundred  yards  of  lace — the  sam(3 
price  for  one  or  a  half-dozen  neckties. 

I  am  advocating  no  impractical,  Utopian  ideals, 
and  I  do  not  mean  to  offer  the  suggestion  that  con- 
ditions are  ripe  for  such  a  revolutionary  move,  but 
it  is  very  clear  in  my  mind  that  the  flat-rate  principle 
is  right,  and  that  newspapers  are  great  sufferers  be- 
cause so  many  mediums  of  general  circulation  are 
proving  it  to  be  right. 

Under  a  flat  rate  the  little  fellow  has  a  square  dea:i. 
Beginners  in  advertising,  like  beginners  in  anything 
else,  are  apt  to  start  small.  Protection  and  help  fcr 
the  beginner  are  very  desirable.  Advertising  badly 
needs  the  beginner.  The  death-rate  is  alarmingly 
high,  so  let's  keep  up  the  birth-rate. 

You  use  the  amount  of  department-store  advertis- 
ing that  your  paper  carries  as  a  big  argument  in  solicit- 
ing business  from  me,  but  because  a  department 
store  used  your  paper  at  five  cents  a  line  is  no  reason 
why  my  client,  with  possibly  only  a  partial  distribti- 
tion  in  your  town,  can  use  it  at  five  times  as  much, 
which  is  probably  the  rate  he  will  have  to  pay  for 
the  amount  of  space  he  can  use. 

Now  here  is  another  point.  Possibly  my  client  sells 
his  goods  through  dry-goods  or  men's-fumishing  or 
hardware  or  drug  stores,  and  the  department  stores, 
and  the  department  stores  handle  such  goods  as  he 
produces.  Department  stores  are  notoriously  diffi- 
cult to  induce  to  stock  a  branded  and  advertised  line, 
but  having  taken  it  on,  one  of  their  pleasant  practices 
is  to  cut  the  price  to  smithereens,  and  by  advertising 
it  in  your  papers  at  the  dainty  little  private  rate  ex- 
tended to  them,  disgust  other  merchants  with  the 
line  and  ruin  the  market  for  your  client. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      405 

Under  present  rulings  a  manufacturer  may  not,  by 
contract  or  agreement,  fix  the  price  at  which  his 
wares  shall  be  offered  to  the  consumer.  Suppose  you 
owned  a  trade-mark  name  on  a  valuable  line  of  silks, 
and  had  spent  a  half-million  dollars  in  advertising 
until  the  consumer  of  such  goods  knew  it  and  re- 
spected it.  Suppose  that  department  stores  here  and 
there,  recognizing  that  your  goods  were  standard,  cut 
the  price  in  half  for  their  own  glorification,  and  to  at- 
tract customers  to  buy  other  things  on  which  they 
make  a  good  healthy  profit.  Suppose  department 
stores  advertised  their  cut  prices  on  your  goods  widely 
in  the  newspapers  of  their  towns  (paying  for  such 
advertising  about  one-fifth  or  one-sixth  the  rate  that 
you  would  have  to  pay  for  the  amount  of  space  you 
could  afford  to  use).  Suppose  some  newspaper  man 
came  to  solicit  your  advertising,  and  used  as  his  chief 
argument  the  amount  of  department-store  advertising 
his  paper  was  carrying.  What  would  you  have  to 
say?  Your  answer  to  him  is  my  answer  to  you,  when 
you  inquire  why  the  newspapers  do  not  get  more 
foreign  business. 

Short  rates,  foolishly  extravagant  discounts  for 
space,  local  rate  arrangements  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  some  one  store  or  class  of  store — all  these 
things  must  pass  away  before  the  correctness  of  the 
flat-rate  principle — if  not  now,  eventually. 

Some  attention  must  be  given  to  the  actualities  of 
the  requirements  of  national  advertisers  if  the  news- 
papers want  the  business  of  national  advertisers.  I, 
for  one,  do  not  think  you  will  have  to  lower  rates, 
but  an  evening  process  must  come  about;  gross  in- 
equalities must  be  ironed  out;  some  must  pay  more, 
others  less;  the  peaks  must  be  trimmed  down  and  the 


'.*s. 


I 


1    ' 

I       c 


! 


>rst 


406     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

valleys  filled  in.     You  can  make  money  by  bringing 

about  the  change.  . 

As  far  as  dry-goods  lines  are  concerned— m  our 
100  largest  cities  five  stores  in  each  city  do  over  7  5 
per  cent,  of  the  business;  in  the  2,500  next  largest 
cities  three  stores  in  each  city  do  over  85  per  cent, 
of  the  business;  in  the  same  2,500  cities  one  store 
alone  does  40  per  cent,  of  the  business;  in  1,200  small 
cities  one  store  does  not  50  per  cent,  of  the  business. 

In  most  American  cities  most  newspapers  are 
** stymied"  by  the  department  store,  and  the  wisie 
publisher  will  do  well  to  face  the  facts  and  think  of 

the  future. 

If  I  were  soliciting  advertising  for  a  newspaper  from 
the  general  agencies  of  this  country,  or  from  the 
national  advertisers  direct,  I  would  quit  bragging 
about  the  amount  of  space  some  department  stores 
used  with  me,  and  tell  how  many  hardware  stores 
or  drug  stores  or  grocery  stores  there  were  in  my 
town.  I  would  be  prepared  to  tell  what  kind  of  mer- 
chants they  were;  what  branded  Hues  of  goods  they 
carried.  I  would  equip  myself  to  talk  about  the 
people  of  my  community;  what  kind  of  homes  they 
had;  their  employment;  their  standard  of  intelli- 
gence;   their  scale  of  earnings. 

Advertising  is  shifting  and  changing  very  rapidly. 
No  worth-while  agent  talks  much  about  the  glitti^r- 
ing  generalities  of  advertising  nowadays.  The  b(jst 
advertising  man  is  neither  a  Hterary  genius  nor  a 
spellbinding  solicitor.  He  is  a  student  of  the  flow 
of  merchandise.  He  is  investigating  the  purchasmg 
habits  of  stores  and  consumers. 

The  making  of  a  modem  advertising  plan  involves 
a  study  of  distributive  methods  and  channels  and 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     407 

a  proper  understanding  of  trade  relations  or  lack  of 
them.  Advertising  is  now  generally  considered  as  an 
item  of  sales  cost,  and  may  only  be  made  fiilly  effec- 
tive through  intelligent  retail  co-operation,  sales 
efficiency  of  roadmen,  and  numerous  other  contrib- 
uting factors.  Even  when  publications  of  national 
circulation  are  exclusively  employed,  in  an  advertis- 
ing campaign,  very  exhaustive  charts  of  their  cir- 
culation in  various  communities  or  districts  are  com- 
piled as  a  basis  of  operation,  and  newspapers  are  far 
behind  their  opportunities  in  the  extension  of  the 
sort  of  co-operation  that  is  practical  and  helpful. 

Newspapers  will  not  develop  their  foreign  business 
by  opposing  other  forms  of  advertising.  They  are 
natural  aids  to  periodical  publications,  and  periodical 
pubHcations  can  greatly  improve  the  resultfulness  of 
a  newspaper  campaign. 

Quit  knocking  the  magazines.  The  most  successful 
periodical  publisher  in  America  answers  that  sort  of 
thing  by  spending  a  few  hundred  thousand  dollars 
per  year  advertising  in  your  newspapers  and  building 
his  own  splendid  subscription  lists  larger  and  larger, 
and  his  prestige  with  business  men  stronger  and 
stronger — making  his  wonderful  publications  more 
and  more  essential  to  the  general  advertiser  and 
making  it  constantly  less  essential  for  such  adver- 
tisers to  use  your  papers  to  cover  the  country.  ^ 

Running  a  newspaper  is  a  simon-pure  business 
proposition,  like  running  a  laundry,  or  a  coal  mine, 
or  a  shoe-shining  parlor,  or  a  street-railway  system. 
Business  in  any  line  succeeds  in  almost  direct  ratio 
to  the  efficiency  with  which  it  understands  and  meets 
the  requirements  of  its  customers. 

The  biggest  asset  that  any  newspaper  can  have  is 


k 


i 


i 


i 


'I 


408      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  confidence  of  its  primary  customers — that  is,  the; 
readers.  Next,  it  must  consider  the  claims  of  its 
secondary  customers — that  is,  the  advertisers.  If  it 
wants  the  national  advertiser  it  must  pay  som(3 
attention  to  his  needs,  his  difficulties,  his  rights. 

There  probably  isn't  a  man  within  the  range  of  my 
voice  who  couldn't  take  my  place  and  tell  as  many 
wrong  things  about  the  advertising-agency  system 
as  I  have  pointed  out  concerning  the  newspapers. 
I  will  save  him  the  trouble,  however,  by  admitting 
them  in  advance.  The  main  difference  is  that  you 
make  the  agent  by  your  recognition  of  him,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  your  paper  is  right  and  deserves 
to  win,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  agent  or  combination 
of  agents  can  whip  you. 

Every  one  knows  there  are  far  too  many  advertis;- 
ing  agents — newspapers,  magazines,  and  the  agents 
themselves  all  admit  it.  The  business  promises  of 
half  the  advertising  agencies  in  this  country  aren't 
physically  large  enough  for  a  real  file-room  of  the 
leading  newspapers,  but  take  it  by  and  large,  **any 
one  who  can  get  an  account  can  get  a  commission." 

This  simply  results  in  most  agencies  devoting  their 
time  to  taking  accounts  from  others  instead  of  crea  t- 
ing  new  business.  You  transfer  the  account  from 
one  agency  to  another  on  yotir  books,  but  your 
revenue  isn't  increased. 

Newspaper  recognition  should  be  a  highly  prized 
franchise.  It  should  be  impossible  of  obtainanc^e 
except  on  a  basis  of  demonstrated  abihty  to  creai:e 
and  develop  new  advertising  accounts  and  imques- 
tionable  financial  responsibility. 

There  are  not  above  a  score  or  so  of  agents  wiih 
whom  you  are  doing  business  who  could  pay  their 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      409 

bills  to-morrow  if  their  leading  client  were  to  fail, 
but  this  great  business  of  newspaper  publishing  takes 
no  heed  of  that  fact. 

And  so  I  say  again,  as  I  said  at  the  outset,  that 
what  the  newspaper  business  needs  is  business  prin- 
ciples on  its  conduct  and  management — a  realign- 
ment of  rates,  rules,  and  regulations  to  the  require- 
ments of  this  present  hotir. 

Now  I  haven't  forgotten,  even  if  you  have,  that 
there  are  two  planks  to  my  platform,  and  that  one 
of  them  is  a  pleasant  plank. 

I  made  the  statement  that  the  newspaper  is  the 
foremost  form  of  advertising  media,  and  I  mean 
every  word  of  it.  Many  of  the  greatest  national 
advertising  campaigns  had  their  start  in  the  news- 
papers of  one  city  or  one  state  or  one  section.  As 
production,  capacity,  and  distributive  ability  grew, 
the  zone  of  advertising  widened  until  the  country 
over  was  covered,  and  national  publications  could  be 
used  with  maximum  resultfulness. 

The  house  that  I  have  the  pleasure  of  representing 
does  a  very  large  business  with  the  newspapers,  and 
is  successfully  conducting  many  sectional  campaigns. 
I  believe  we  will  see  more  national  advertising  in 
newspapers,  simply  because  all  logic  and  all  sanity 
and  all  experience  are  behind  the  newspaper  as  the 
ideal  advertising  medium  for  everything,  from  the 
five-cent  soda-cracker  to  the  five-thousand-dollar 
automobile,  and  because  I  believe  that  the  news- 
papers are  beginning  to  see  the  national  advertisers' 
side  of  the  case. 

The  American  newspaper  owes  its  strength  to  its 
local  sufficiency.  It  is  the  palladium  of  local  inter- 
ests.    It  is  the  reflector  of  local  sentiment.     It  is 


'i: 


410     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  stimulator  of  local  enterprise.  It  is  the  booster 
of  local  talent.  It  is  the  recorder  of  local  endeavor. 
It  is  the  reporter  of  local  accomplishment.  It  is  the 
herald  of  local  ambition.  All  these  things  it  is, 
should  be,  and  will  continue  to  be. 

But  a  spirit  of  nationaHsm  is  in  the  air.  Men 
are  thinking  with  a  national  mind.  What  the  nation 
eats,  wears,  does,  and  feels  is  reflected  in  Decatur, 
Alabama;    Decatur,  IlHnois;    and  Decatur,  Texas. 

If  a  man  produces  an  excellent  breakfast  food  in 
Battle  Creek,  Michigan,  and  educates  a  nation  of 
men  and  women  to  demand  it,  and  a  nation  of  stores 
keepers  to  supply  the  demand,  the  attitude  of  thie 
New  Orleans  newspapers  toward  it  should  be  that 
they  will  advertise  it  for  him  at  a  fair  rate,  com- 
pared with  what  they  would  charge  one  of  their  big 
stores  if  it  should  bring  out  a  breakfast  food  under 
its  own  brand— they  should  help  him  get  it  into  stores 
in  their  town — they  should  give  all  the  local  aid  and 
help  they  can  to  those  employed  by  the  advertiser 
in  opening  and  developing  the  New  Orleans  market. 
Incidentally,  the  papers  of  Battle  Creek  ought  to  do 
just  as  much  for  some  gentleman  of  the  Crescent 
City  who  works  up  enough  courage  to  put  a  first-class 
package  of  rice  on  the  market  when  he  reaches  their 
town  with  his  campaign. 

Who  cares  where  goods  are  made?  The  average 
man  doesn't  know  or  care  if  Prince  Albert  Smoking 
Tobacco  is  made  in  Westfield,  New  York,  or  if  Welcl:i's 
Grape  Juice  is  bottled  in  Winston-Salem,  North 
Carolina.  The  newspapers  are  getting  the  advertising 
of  both  products  because  they  have  been  nationalized, 
and  intensified  selling  means  local  appHcation  of  the 
forms  of  pubUcity. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      411 

Don't  be  afraid  of  national  advertising  mediums. 
Love  them  for  the  good  they  have  done.  The  very 
best  national  periodicals  are  only  sublimated  news- 
papers, anyway.  They  are  fast  developing  news  feat- 
ures and  approaching  newspaper  standards.  The 
greatest  advertising  mediums  are  getting  away  from 
the  purely  fiction  idea  and  are  approximating  great 
national,  weekly,  or  monthly  newspapers.  They  are 
doing  infrequently,  in  a  national  way,  just  what  you 
can  do  frequently  in  a  local  way.  You  fit  together 
in  a  national  advertising  campaign  like  peas  in  a  pod. 

Why  this  question  of  newspapers  or  magazines? 
What  reasons  under  the  sun  are  there,  except  your  own 
self-erected  barriers,  why  newspapers  should  not  have 
more  and  more  national  advertising? 

We  have  seen  a  lot  of  thinly  spread  out,  so-called 
national  advertising  campaigns,  designed  solely  with 
the  idea  of  bluffing  the  dealers  into  stocking  the 
goods,  but  this  is  only  just  one  little  picture  in  the 
ever-shifting,  fast-moving  kaleidoscope  of  advertising 
experimentation . 

Advertising  fundamentals  are  safe.  Advertising 
principles  are  certain. 


II 


I 


it    i 


i!^  11 


LX 


Making  Newspaper  Space  Pay. — Wilbur  D.  Nesbit, 
Vice-President  Wm.  H.  Rankin  Company,  Chicago 

and  New  York 

"Newspaper  co-operation"  is  a  term  that  ha.s 
been  bandied  back  and  forth  so  much  that  in  the 
minds  of  a  great  many  people  it  means  running  free 
reading  notices.  There  is  a  certain  amount  of  legit- 
imate publicity  that  may  be  given  any  firm,  whetheir 
it  advertises  or  not.  That  certain  amount  is  confined 
to  actual  news.  Any  other  kind  of  pubHcity  is  hardly 
worth  the  ink  and  paper  it  consumes.  When  I 
speak  of  newspaper  co-operation  I  have  in  mind, 
however,  neither  free  puffs  nor  actual  news  stories. 
A  real  editor  knows  news  when  it  comes  in  and  abhoirs 
the  palpable  puff. 

A  newspaper  is  of  value  to  an  advertiser  according 
to  its  strength.  Its  strength  is  based  upon  its  circu- 
lation— and  its  influence  with  that  circulation.  Give^n 
the  confidence  of  its  readers,  a  newspaper  becomes 
immediately  a  profitable  investment.  Reader-con- 
fidence, to  my  mind,  means  that  the  man  or  wometn 
who  subscribes  regularly  to  a  newspaper  has  just  as 
much  faith  in  what  an  advertiser  says  in  the  space 
Jie  has  paid  for  as  in  what  the  editor  himself  says  in 


WILBUR   D.    NESBIT 

Vice-President.  William  H.  Rankin  Company,  Chicago. 


'mmm 


'in 


*f 


i 

i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      413 

the  editorial  columns.  More  than  that,  the  adver- 
tising space  should  have  just  as  much  opportunity 
to  inspire  action  as  has  the  editorial  urging  of  the 
newspaper.  In  other  words,  the  reader  of  that  news- 
paper believes  the  news  it  prints,  trusts  its  editorial 
policy,  and  has  faith  iii  its  advertisers.  He  has 
faith  in  its  advertisers  because  he  believes  that  news- 
paper believes  that  in  protecting  him  it  is  fortifying 

itself. 

Every  newspaper,  large  or  small,  is  the  crystalliza- 
tion of  a  market  for  many  people.  It  is  the  connecting 
link  between  seller  and  buyer.  As  a  general  thing, 
most  newspaper  representatives  can  tell  you  more 
about  the  possible  buyers  who  read  their  paper  than 
they  can  tell  you  about  the  ways  and  means  of  getting 
the  goods  into  the  hands  of  those  buyers. 

Newspaper  space  is  bought  and  used  to  get  dealers 
to  sell  goods  and  to  get  readers  to  buy  those  goods 
from  those  dealers.  Space  in  a  newspaper  becomes 
more  valuable  to  an  advertiser  when  he  finds  that 
the  newspaper  not  only  has  the  confidence  of  its 
readers,  but  the  support  of  its  dealer-readers.  Tell 
a  dealer,  for  instance,  that  a  certain  product  is  to  be 
advertised  in  a  certain  widely  known  weekly,  and 
he  puts  in  a  stock.  He  has  been  educated  to  believe 
that  articles  so  advertised  will  have  a  consumer  de- 
mand. There  are  newspapers  which  enjoy  a  similar 
confidence,  in  a  more  intensified  form,  on  the  part 
of  the  dealer. 

Save  that  it  is  the  custom,  there  is  no  real  reason 
for  buying  newspaper  space  by  means  of  a  yardstick. 
Space  in  a  good  newspaper  can  be  made  worth  just 
as  much  as  the  advertiser  will  pay  for  it.  And,  when 
he  is  shown  what  the  combined  influence  and  cir- 


1 1 


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"T  ^'  >ir 


♦ 


414      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

culation  of  that  newspaper  can  do  for  him,  his  judg- 
ment will  do  the  rest. 

First  of  all,  however,  it  is  necessary  for  the  news- 
paper itself  to  know  the  market  it  opens  and  to  be 
able  to  show  this  market  intelligently  to  a  manufact- 
urer or  advertiser.  A  producer  of  carburetors  is  not 
convinced  by  a  lot  of  broad  generalizations  of  the 
number  of  groceries,  meat-markets,  show  stores,  or 
hotels  in  a  city.  He  is  interested  in  tangible  evidence 
of  what  that  newspaper  can  do  with  the  motor-car 

trade. 

It  is  a  good  rule,  when  soliciting  a  man's  busi- 
ness, to  assume  for  the  time  being  that  his  is 
the  only  business  on  earth  and  that  his  is  the  only 
firm  in  that  business.  If  he  manufactures  hats, 
show  him  what  your  paper  does  with  the  hat  dealers. 
Map  your  city.  Mark  each  hat  store.  Show  him 
how  many  hat  stores  handle  his  hats.  Show  him 
how  many  can  handle  them.  The  manufacturer 
knows  that  if  he  gets  dealer  distribution  his  ad- 
vertising space  in  your  paper  is  made  100  per  cent, 
better  for  him. 

The  consumer  is  going  to  find  more  people  than 
ever  trying  to  sell  things  to  him  now  that  the  war 
days  are  over.  He  is  going  to  find  a  more  concerted, 
more  determined  selling  effort.  Practically  everything 
advertised  in  a  newspaper  must  be  bought  through  a 
dealer.  The  dealer,  then,  is  the  first  step.  News- 
paper space  will  pay  better  when  it  is  known  and  shown 
that  the  dealers  in  that  newspaper's  territory  will 
stock  and  push  goods  advertised  in  it.  That  sort  of 
confidence  will  mean  that  the  dealer  will  not  only 
sell  the  goods  to  readers  of  the  particular  newspaper, 
but  to  every  other  customer  he  has. 


m 


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i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     415 

Circulation  certainly  is  a  good  standard  of  value 
in  a  newspaper.  Circulation  and  influence  generally 
go  together. 

Much  may  be  written  or  said  on  this  point,  but  the 
thought  I  have  in  mind  is  that  a  newspaper  can  make 
itself  the  key  to  a  given  market.  To  do  this  it  must 
know  that  market  in  all  its  phases,  so  that  it  can 
say  to  the  advertiser  of  any  product,  "Here  is  exactly 
what  we  can  do  for  you  here." 

It  is  hard  to  get  the  support  of  some  dealers — but 
it  is  not  hard  to  get  the  support  of  any  live  dealer 
when  he  sees  a  profit  ahead  of  him.  The  newspaper 
publisher  who  can  make  the  dealers  feel  that  there 
is  a  consumer  demand  for  goods  advertised  in  his 
publication  is  helping  create  the  market  the  adver- 
tiser must  find. 

One  thing  more  a  newspaper  can  do,  and  should  do. 
That  is  to  preach  the  value  of  advertising  to  its 
readers.  There  is  a  real  benefit  to  the  reader  in 
advertising.  He  or  she  should  be  taught  and  told 
how  to  read  an  advertisement,  why  to  look  for  ad- 
vertised goods,  why  advertising  is  an  economy  that 
benefits  manufacturer,  distributer,  and  consumer.  My 
experience  with  big  national  advertisers  teaches  me 
that  none  of  them  will  say  in  an  advertisement  what 
they  would  not  say  in  a  letter  over  their  own  signa- 
tures. Their  good  faith,  their  good  repute,  and  the 
good-will  of  the  public  are  all  embodied  in  their  ad- 
vertisements. Fair  play  to  the  dealer  and  to  the 
consumer  is  the  keynote  of  successful  advertising 
and  instils  the  sentiment  of  fair  play  toward  the  ad- 
vertiser and  his  product. 

Newspaper  advertising  pays  when  the  newspaper 
is  the  key  to  the  market,  when  it  knows  its  market 


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416      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

and  its  possibilities  so  completely  that  it  is  the  selling 
link  between  dealer  and  consumer.  This  sounds  as 
though  I  meant  that  a  newspaper  should  be  able  to 
sell  the  dealer  harder  than  it  does  its  readers— and 
maybe  that  is  exactly  what  I  do  mean. 


LXI 


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It 


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Improved  Solicitation. — Richard  A.  Foley 

A  VERY  interesting  and  frank  statement  to  the 
text,  "How  Newspapers  Can  Improve  their  Solicita- 
tions with  Advertising  Agencies,"  was  delivered  by 
Richard  A.  Foley,  of  Philadelphia,  before  the  Asso- 
ciated Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World,  at  Philadel- 
phia, in  1916,  as  follows: 

"One  day  early  this  month  at  the  Poor  Richard 
Club,  where  we  were  all  discussing   'preparedness,' 
the  sales  manager  of  a  large  manufacturing  concern — 
a  man  who  had  handled  advertising  for  several  years 
past  in  connection  with  his  other  work — said  to  me: 
"  'Why  don't  the  representatives  of  newspapers  and 
magazines  give  more  time  to  preparedness?' 
What  do  you  mean?'  said  I. 
'Well,'  he  replied,  'a  lot  of  them  come  to  see  us 
without  really  preparing  their  story  as  thoroughly  as 
they  should.     They  come  to  see  us,  in  many  cases, 
without  any  real  reason  for  asking  for  the  account.' 
'Two  methods  of  solicitation  seem  to  be  open: 
First.  'We  should  have  your  advertising  because 
the  other  fellow  has  it.' 

"Second.  'You  ought  to  advertise  with  us  because 
your  competitor  advertises  with  us.' 


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418      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

''This  sales  manager  further  said  to  me  that  he 
had  often  asked  representatives  why  they  had  never 
called  upon  him  before  his  house  became  an  adver- 
tiser. Usually  this  question  took  the  solicitor  off 
his  feet.  Sometimes  he  would  try  to  make  up  a  rea- 
son while  he  thought  about  it,  and  sometimes  he  would 
be  strong  enough  and  acknowledge  he  was  following 
the  Hne  of  least  resistance  by  soliciting  space  users 
rather  than  helping  to  create  them. 

"'What  soHcitors  need,'  said  this  sales  manager, 
'is  more  of  the  up-to-dateness,  real  information  and 
greater  preparedness.' 

"This  comes  direct  from  a  man  who  is  solicited  sev- 
eral times  a  week,  and  to  some  extent  it  coven;  the 
criticism  that  might  be  offered  by  the  advertising 
agents.  The  solicitor  should  prepare  his  story 
thoroughly  in  advance  and  know  what  he  is  talking 
about  both  from  the  standpoint  of  the  advertiser 
and  from  his  publisher's  viewpoint  as  well. 

"Of  all  solicitors  for  newspapers,  those  in  the;  for- 
eign field  are,  in  most  cases,  the  most  thorough  and 
the  best  informed. 

"Newspapers  sometimes  make  the  mistake  of  send- 
ing out  men  who  are  not  capable  of  meeting  on  the 
same  plane  of  business  knowledge  those  upon  v^hom 
they  are  to  call.  A  newspaper  representative  should 
be  a  man  of  presence,  of  abiHty  and  tact.  Too  many 
soHcitors  stop  in  to  say  'Hello'  in  passing,  ar.d  do 
not  come  in  with  something  definite  in  mind. 

"To  make  a  proper  impression,  a  newspaper  solicitor 
should  know  all  about  his  paper,  should  know  all  its 
rates,  should  know  local  conditions  thoroughly,  how 
the  paper  stands  among  the  various  lines  of  trade, 
what  the  paper  will  do  to  help  the  advertiser  among 


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RICHARD    A.    FOLEY 


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BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      419 

his  trade  and  also  what  the  paper  can  do  in  the  way 
of  position. 

"Position  is  a  very  important  factor  in  advertising 
and  many  representatives  are  not  acquainted  with 
conditions  of  their  own  paper  or  papers.  They  do 
not  know  what  they  can  do  until  they  have  taken  the 
matter  up  especially  with  the  pubHshers.  This  may 
be  necessary  in  some  cases,  but  the  representative 
should  have  the  confidence  of  his  publisher  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  publisher  will  abide  by  practically 
whatever  he  does.  Of  course,  the  representative 
cannot  be  expected  to  be  posted  all  the  time  on  local 
business,  so  that  he  can  know  just  what  he  can  promise 
in  the  foreign  field,  but  he  should  be  sufficiently  in 
touch  to  approximate  what  can  be  done. 

"In  the  matter  of  position,  when  an  advertiser  or 
an  advertising  agency  wants  something  specific,  too 
often  the  solicitor  will  say  that  it  cannot  be  done 
without  extra  charge,  when  it  should  be  the  aim  of 
the  newspaper  to  give  an  advertiser  full  position 
every  time  it  can  possibly  do  so.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
newspaper's  service  to  work  along  this  line,  and  unless 
it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  give  full  position  no 
extra  charge  should  be  made. 

"We  sometimes  think  that  the  newspaper  publisher 
and  his  representative  look  upon  the  advertiser  as 
an  enemy  rather  than  a  friend.  His  requests  and  his 
desire  to  make  a  good  showing  in  the  newspaper,  so 
far  as  position  goes,  are  often  looked  upon  with  the 
same  suspicion  as  the  second-story  man  making  a 
midnight  visit. 

"We  do  not  believe  in  the  indiscriminate  giving  of 
space,  but  the  newspapers  have  themselves  to  blame 
if  advertisers  seek  their  help  in  putting  across  their 


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420      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

story,  and  by  this  I  mean  in  reading  matter  in  the 
news  columns,  for  they  see  the  columns  about  base- 
ball and  other  things  and  wonder  why  they,  too, 
cannot  be  among  the  favored  of  fortune  who  have 
editorial  assistance  rendered  in  their  business  quest. 

**  Why,  your  newspapers  are  filled  with  the  most  in- 
consequential items  about  automobiles,  automobile 
manufacturers,  automobile  representatives,  and  every 
time  a  new  manager  comes  to  town  his  picture  is 
in  the  paper  with  a  column  and  a  half  of  fulsome 
nothingness  about  what  he  has  to  say.  Sometimes 
it  looks  as  if  a  vacuum  cleaner  were  used  to  get  the 
matter  that  goes  into  newspaper  columns,  and  yet 
when  the  president  of  a  great  tobacco  company 
invents  a  brand-new  type  of  tobacco,  something  that 
every  man  is  interested  in,  if  he  gets  a  stick,  by  the 
time  it  reaches  him  it  wears  the  royal  mantle  of  kingly 
favor,  so  much  stress  is  placed  upon  the  special  con- 
ditions which  the  representative  has  obtained.  And 
we  appreciate  the  representative's  effort,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  advertiser  and  ourselves  observe  that 
the  baseball  advertising  seems  to  have  been  put 
under  a  trip-hammer  before  it  reaches  the  newspaper, 
while  the  gossip  is  blown  up  with  a  force  pump. 

"We  reahze  that  baseball  is  news,  and  perhaps 
this  is  all  beside  the  question  of  soHcitation,  but  it 
is  just  such  things  as  this  that  the  representative 
should  be  prepared  to  discuss.  We  agents  are  be- 
tween the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone.  We  have 
on  the  one  side  the  advertiser's  wonderment  that  he 
must  pay  for  every  little  privilege  when  others  gain  so 
much  with  scarcely  an  effort,  and  on  the  other  side  we 
have  your  rules  and  regulations  and  the  non-acquaint- 
ance of  your  representative  with  many  of  these. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      421 

"Again,  some  solicitors  also  are  so  thoroughly  im- 
bued with  their  own  proposition  that  they  cannot 
recognize  the  merits  of  any  other,  and  are  extremely 
put  out  if  they  are  not  favored  with  practically  every 
line  of  business  that  an  advertising  agency  issues. 
Fortunately,  that  is  not  true  of  all  solicitors. 

*'In  local  solicitation,  many  an  account  is  often 
killed  or  stunted  practically  before  it  has  got  any 
real  start,  through  over-solicitation.  We  will  say, 
for  example,  that  an  advertising  agency  prepares  a 
campaign  for  a  product  that  has  never  been  adver- 
tised. One  paper  in  the  city  may  be  used,  and  if 
there  are  three  or  four  other  papers  in  that  city  the 
representatives  of  these  papers  will  call  on  the  ad- 
vertiser and  treat  him  to  a  large  amount  of  argument 
as  to  why  he  has  made  the  mistake  of  his  life  in  not 
using  their  papers.  After  that,  it  is  only  because  of 
double  work  on  the  part  of  the  agency  that  the  ad- 
vertiser does  not  lose  confidence  and  either  want  to 
stop  or  cut  the  advertising. 

"Often  in  calling  on  agencies  solicitors  are  overly 
insistent  on  seeing  the  space-buyer  when  he  is  par- 
ticularly busy,  and  it  often  happens  that  at  that 
time  the  space-buyer  is  busy  figuring  a  campaign  in 
which  this  solicitor's  paper  is  or  will  be  involved 
and  he  doesn't  need  to  see  him.  A  written  mes- 
sage is  sometimes  at  least  as  good  as  a  needless 
publication. 

* 'Another  type  of  solicitor  is  the  one  who  always 
wants  to  see  the  president  or  one  of  the  high  officials  of 
the  advertising  agency,  and  does  not  think  the  man 
designated  by  the  agency  to  deal  with  him  is  suffi- 
ciently 'mportant  for  him  to  see.  This  type  of  solicitor 
is  really  standing  in  his  own  light  and  he  should  recog- 


1 

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422      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

nize  the  fact  and  keep  away  from  the  president  or  any 
other  high  official,  because  an  agency  doing  business 
along  this  line  will  soon  have  very  little  or  no  busi- 
ness to  place.  For  agency  producers  must  be  left 
alone  and  sooner  or  later  solicitors  will  find  that  il 
they  cultivate  the  space-buyer  they  will  positively 
secure  more  business  than  they  could  through  any 

other  channel.  ^    i.     1  1 

*'No  newspaper  or  publication  of  any  sort  should 
make  a  practice  of  sending  three  or  four  men  to  an 
agency  on  different  lines,  such  as  school  advertising, 
etc.  One  man  should  be  big  enough  to  cover  all,  so 
far  as  that  agency  is  concerned.  ^ 

''The  newspaper  solicitor  should  aim  to  take  up 
just  as  Httle  of  the  agency  man's  time  as  possible, 
yet  keep  him  well  informed. 

''These  criticisms,  of  course,  do  not  apply  to  all 
solicitors  or  to  all  newspapers,  as,  fortunately  for 
the  agency,  there  are  in  the  advertising  field  a  great 
many  very  intelUgent  men  who  know  how  to  work 

properly. 

"The  other  day  a  pubHsher  said  to  me: 

'"How  would  you  really  define  or  describe  an  ad- 
vertising soHcitor?' 

"Permit  me  to  essay  the  task: 

"An  advertising  soHcitor  is  a  man  who  beheves  his 
paper  ought  to  have  every  advertisement  that  is 
printed  and  several  hundred  that  never  were  pnnted 
and  aren't  likely  to  be.  He  is  a  man  of  mtense  likes 
and  dislikes.  He  likes  the  advertising  agent  who 
gives  him  a  new  advertising  order  to-day,  and  dis- 
likes him  when  he  doesn't  give  him  another  new  one 
that  goes  out  to-morrow. 

"He  always  knows  why  Jones  lost  an  account  and 


(( . 


ti  I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     423 

Smith  got  it,  and  is  the  first  in  at  the  death  and  the 
earliest  visitor  to  compliment  the  new  baby. 

"The  advertising  solicitor  carries  a  pleasant  air,  a 
circulation  statement,  and  a  fine  old  assortment  of 
tips,  many  of  them  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation. 

"The  advertising  solicitor  is  a  man  who  never 
'knocks' — he  just  walks  in — and  uses  a  sledge-ham- 
mer on  the  other  fellow's  rate  card  and  sworn  state- 
ment. 

The  sworn  statement  most  used  is — 
It's  a  damn  shame  the  judgment  some  men  use 
in  selecting  mediums!' 

"  Politically,  most  advertising  solicitors  are  socialists. 
If  the  representative  of  the  morning  paper  gets  a  con- 
tract the  representative  of  the  evening  newspaper 
comes  in  and  says,  'Can't  we  have  some  of  that?' 

"Equal  division  of  property — that's  the  socialistic 
creed,  isn't  it? 

"The  advertising  solicitor's  life  is  full  of  surprises. 
He  is  invariably  surprised  that  you  used  the  other 
newspaper. 

"He  always  knows  his  P's  and  Q's,  but  he  isn't 
always  sure  about  his  A  B  C's. 

"The  advertising  solicitor  is  the  only  man  who  has 
ever  proved  that  figures  can  lie — in  fact,  that  old  man 
Ananias  must  have  invented  mathematics,  for  the 
advertising  solicitor  can  take  the  other  fellow's  line- 
age statement  and  show  that  instead  of  gaining  100,000 
lines  last  month  the  darned  old  paper  is  headed  for 
the  bankruptcy  courts. 

"If  you  advertise  tobacco  the  advertising  solicitor 
will  furnish  statistics  showing  that  his  paper  carries 
more  tobacco  advertising  than  any  other,  and  if  you 


!' 


■<«P^M 


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424     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

advertise  woman's  apparel  he'll  prove  -that  90  per 
cent,  of  his  paper's  readers  are  women. 

"The  advertising  solicitor  can  call  on  a  man  with 
one  local  account  and  make  him  feel  as  big  as  Fred 
Aver-  and  he  can  impress  the  space-buyer  of  the 
biggest  agency  with  the  feeling  that  he  has  inside 
Station  necessary  to  that  lordly  bemg's  future 

^"  Burtaking  him  all  in  all  the  advertising  solicitor, 

after  all,  is  a  good  fellow.     ^V^  ,^°}^' I'^^'^Zni 
he'U  fight  for  it,  he'll  die  for  it,  he'll  live  for  it-he  11 

—well,  he'll  almost  lie  for  it. 

"He  gets  to  know  the  agency  that  plays  the  game 
fair,  and  he  plays  just  that  way.  He  appreaates 
honesty  more  than  the  average  man.  He  l^es  to 
hear  the  truth^ven  if  it's  a  monologue.  He  de- 
spises bunk,  even  where  it  isn't  policy  tosay  ^^  ^J!^ 
something  of  a  toreador,  for  he  is  expert  at  dodging 

*  "He  has  to  meet  all  sorts,  many  of  them  out  of 
sorts.  He  carries  around  a  lot  of  confidential  infor- 
mation and  seldom,  if  ever,  leaJcs.  He's  a  digger  for 
nuggets  of  business  often  where  the  lode  runs  hght, 
buf  he  keeps  on  digging.  He  must  be  a  big  man 
for  he  represents  a  big  proposition-the  Amencan 

"'"  AnTin  conclusion,  gentlemen,  please  remember 
that  your  solicitor  represents  you.  So  far  as  we 
agents  know,  he  is  you-he  is  your  newspaper.  Giv, 
1^  full  credentials,  with  power  to  act.  And  if  he 
Ts  not  the  man  to  be  trusted  with  plenipotentiary^ 
cowers  don't  send  him  out  at  all.  Make  envoys  of 
S  Sose  men  whom  you  can  trust  in  all  the  ddi^  e 
adjustments  of  diplomacy;  who  will  meet  with  dif.- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      425 

nity  and  clarity  of  vision  the  problems  that  daily 
arise  in  the  clash  of  business. 

"Such  men — ^and  there  are  many  of  them — find 
ready  welcome  in  the  offices,  and  sometimes  in  the 
councils,  of  those  who  make  or  buy  advertising." 


■•«•■•«■■ 


H 


1 


If" 


LXII 

Relations  Between  Agencies  and  Newspapers- 
W.  B.  Somerset,  of  A.  McKim,  Limited,  Montreal 

It  seems  to  me  that  most  of  the  misunderstandings 
existing  in  the  past  between  newspapers  and  agencies 
hi  been  the  result  of  a  fundamental  misconception 
as  to  their  relations.     Instead  of  realizing  that  the 
aLncies  are  their  national  solicitors  and  co-operat- 
?ng  w?th  them  and  even  regulating  them  as  such 
iy  publishers  seem  to  have  ^^f^^^^^f^^J^ 
outside  of  their  control  and  inimical  to  their  interests 
St  it  be  once  fully  realized  by  the  pubhshers  of 
this  country  that  the  advertising  agendes  are  tl^r 
employees  in  the  same  sense  as  are  their  own  in 
Sdull  solicitors,  and  all  misunderstan^ng  will  d.s^ 
appear.     That  newspapers  would  ^^0"^^f  ^  ;^  ^oo^. 
nolicv  to  pay  their  canvassers  madequate  remuner- 
attn  to  good  work,  or  to  harass  or  obstruct  them,  is 

"In' tSg'  the  ground  that  the  advertising  agendes 
are  thf  national' solicitors  of  the  newspapers  J^  do 
not  think  that  any  controversial  issue  is  raised. 
Iny  v^Lw  that  any  properly  constituted  advertismg 
agency  is  other  than  this  cannot  stand  .senous  «^ 
aSnJtion.  While  it  is  true  that  agena-  perform 
many  valuable  services  for  the  advertisers  whose 


W.    B.    SOMERSET 


General   manager,  A.  McKim.  Limited,  Advertising  Agency,  Montreal,  Toronto, 

Winnipeg,  and  London,  England. 


■fc* 


■''mm 


I 


1 


H 


*f. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      427 

accounts  they  secure  for  the  publishers,  none  of  these 
services — recommendations  as  to  plan  of  canlpaign, 
business  counsel,  selection  of  mediums,  preparation 
of  copy,  checking,  accounting — can  be  classed  as 
anything  but  good  salesmanship  on  the  part  of  the 
publisher's  solicitors,  or  as  not  being  done  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  publisher  in  the  course  of  the  agency's 
efforts  to  initiate  and  increase  business. 

The  work  of  an  advertising  agency  is  to  develop 
and  build  up  national  advertising  in  the  press — 
by  which  is  meant  all  regularly  published  periodicals, 
including  daily  and  weekly  newspapers,  magazines, 
farm  and  religious  publications,  trade  papers,  etc. — 
and  placing  these  before  advertisers  as  superior  ad- 
vertising mediums  to  all  other  classes  of  advertising, 
such  as  billboards,  street-cars,  painted  signs,  direct 
advertising,  etc.  The  agency  believes  in  its  work,  it 
believes  that  press  advertising  is  by  far  the  best  and 
cheapest  method  of  reaching  the  public,  and  that 
until  the  money  that  can  be  spent  to  advantage  in 
the  press  of  the  country  is  available  for  that  purpose 
some  supplementary  forms  of  advertising  should  be 
left  in  abeyance. 

The  task  of  the  advertising  agency  in  soliciting 
business  is  more  complicated  than  that  of  the  in- 
dividual publication.  The  individual  paper  is  only 
concerned  with  securing  business  for  itself.  **Let 
the  buyer  beware"  is  still  the  motto  to  a  large  extent 
so  far  as  individual  newspapers  are  concerned.  I 
do  not  think  that  the  individual  newspaper  can  be 
expected  to  consider  other  publications  in  its  canvass, 
neither  is  it  expected  by  the  advertiser  to  be  respon- 
sible to  any  degree  for  the  advertiser's  decision  to 
use  the  publication,  and  to  a  large  extent  it  is  not 


!■  ! 


^ 


if  II 

I  it  ii 

f  l<  11 

hit 


I  IN! 


428      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

responsible  for  results  produced,  which,  if  poor,  may 
often  be  blamed  on  the  copy  used  or  some  other  cir- 
cumstance. As  long  as  the  individual  pubhsher  tells 
the  truth  and  plays  the  game  fairly,  and  the  harder 
he  tries  to  get  business  for  his  own  paper,  the  better 

is  he  thought  of .  ,      j    •    ^i. 

The  advertising  agency,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the 
national  soHcitor  of  all  the  pubUcations.  It  is  coiri- 
missioned  by  the  publications  as  a  whole,  not  only 
to  develop  business,  but  to  protect  their  interests. 
Too  often  in  the  past  has  the  irresponsible  agency, 
by  foolish  or  ill-advised  recommendations,  through 
which  a  potential  large  and  steady  advertiser  has 
been  permanently  lost  to  the  publications  of  ttie 
country,  cost  the  publishers  many  thousands  if  not 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

The  result  of  the  advertising  agencies'  work  is 
far-reaching  and  they  should  be  held  responsible  by 
the  pubHcations  of  the  country  for  the  results  of 
their  work  with  any  advertiser.  The  publications 
should  hold  themselves  responsible  for  the  adver- 
tising agencies  they  recognize  and  thereby  appoint 
to  do  this  work.  To  do  their  full  duty  to  the  pub- 
lishers the  advertising  agency  must  get  results  for 
the  advertiser,  for  what  doth  it  profit  an  agency  or  a 
pubUcation  to  get  an  advertiser  started  only  to  lose 

him  again? 

An  advertising  agency  can  only  be  properly  and 
successfully  conducted  through  building  up  a  chentele 
of  well-satisfied  advertisers  who  remain  permanently 
in  the  press  of  the  country  and  increase  their  ex- 
penditures year  after  year.  Agencies  which  are 
equipped  and  able  to  do  this  constructive  class  ot 
work  should  be  helped  and  encouraged,  and  the  other 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      429 

sort  of  agencies  should  be  required  to  live  up  to  the 
same  standards  of  business.  The  satisfied  national 
advertiser  is  one  of  the  best  assets  the  publishers 
of  this  country  have;  he  sticks  by  the  press  through 
thick  and  thin  and  can  be  relied  upon  for  that  back- 
bone revenue  so  comforting  to  every  publisher  in 
times  of  crisis  and  stress. 

The  work  of  an  advertising  agency  is  long  range 
in  character.  It  takes  months  and  even  years  of 
patient,  hard  work  to  develop  a  new  account.  It 
may  be  thought  that  any  fairly  successful  solicitor 
employed  by  an  agency  can  be  expected  to  earn  his 
salary  from  the  start.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  takes 
six  months  to  determine  if  a  new  man  is  going  to 
be  able  to  produce  business  at  all,  and  nearly  always 
a  year,  if  not  more  than  two  years,  before  a  good  man's 
work  can  be  determined  to  be  profitable.  Not  only 
that,  but  his  work,  all  the  time,  can  only  be  effec- 
tive when  backed  by  the  efforts  of  the  whole  agency 
organization. 

A  national  advertiser  cannot  be  made  in  a  day  or 
a  month.  It  often  takes  years  of  painful  ground- 
work to  bring  him  to  the  point  where  he  first  appears 
in  the  press  of  the  country.  Every  well-equipped 
agency  spends  thousands  of  dollars  every  year  in 
listing,  investigating,  studying,  writing,  learning, 
recommending,  estimating,  and  doing  other  develop- 
ment work  on  firms  they  consider  to  be  potential 
advertisers  and  only  a  small  proportion  of  whom 
actually  become  users  of  space.  This  is  the  unseen 
and  therefore  unappreciated  work  of  the  advertis- 
ing agencies  to  which  the  newspapers'  commissions 
contribute. 

No  part  of  the  publisher's  commission  goes  toward 
30 


m 


^^1 


%m:- 


'I 


m    » 


430      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

paying  for  the  preparation  of  advertiser's  copy.    The 
advertiser  pays  for  this  himself,  including  all  sketches, 
etchings,  electros,  plates,  etc.     The  advertiser  does 
not  pay,  perhaps,  for  the  ideas  the  agency  develops 
to  induce  him  to  become  an  advertiser,  but  he  does 
pay  for  everything  aside  from  this,  in  addition  to 
paying  for  the  space  in  the  publisher's  paper,    l^his 
point  is  important:  publishers  should  understand  that 
advertising  agencies  should  not  rebate  any  portion 
of  their  commissions  to  advertisers,  inasmuch  as  these 
commissions  are  given  to  the  agencies  to  enable  them 
to  develop  business.    To  such  extent  that  any  agency 
fails  to  use  the  commissions  paid  it  by  pubhshers, 
for  the  purpose  of  full  legitimate  advertising  develop- 
ment just  to  such  extent  are  the  publishers  and  other 
agencies  unjustly  treated.     The  commissions  paid  to 
the  agencies  are:    First,  to  cover  operating  expenses 
and  for  the  purpose  of  developing  new  business  and 
the  enlargement  of  current  accounts. 

Possibly  this  article  seems  more  largely  written 
on  the  proper  relations  of  the  agency  and  publisher 
than  on  the  advantages  that  properly  constituted 
agencies  can  be  to  the  publisher.  The  pomt  of  view, 
however,  from  which  the  publisher  approaches  the 
subject  very  largely  governs  the  conclusion  he  will 
come  to  in  this  regard.  The  only  organizations  that 
the  publishers  have  through  which  they  can  reach 
the  national  advertiser  are  the  advertising  agencies. 
The  only  way  in  which  they  can  preserve  for  them- 
selves and  foster  the  growth  of  national  advertising 
in  their  publications  is  through  the  agencies.  That 
the  publishers  should  co-operate  with  the  agen.aes, 
should,  I  think,  be  fairly  clear.  First,  let  them.^  ap- 
preciate   the  agencies   as  their    national    sohcitors 


Co-operation 

of  a  new  and  more  effective  kind  is  going  to  mark  the  coming  of  a 
vastly  increased  volume  of  advertising  for  the  newspapers. 

The  new  co-operation  will  include  a  more  harmonious  relation 
between  the  newspapers  and  the  advertising  agents  for  better  and 
more  profitable  service  to  the  advertiser. 

This  will  be  produced  by  a  better  understanding  between  the 
newspapers  and  the  agents  through  the  elimination  of  recognition 
to  the  irresponsible,  and  adequate  protection  and  reasonable  com- 
pensation for  the  degree  of  service  rendered. 

The  New  York  Globe  bebeves  in  these  broad  principles  and  the 
undersigned  is  working  with  many  hundred  newspaper  publishers 
and  leading  agents  to  produce  greater  traffic  for  all  at  interest. 

Must  Help  and  Protect  the  Agent 

Through  their  erroneous  conception  of  the  agent's  commission 
as  an  expense,  many  publishers  have  developed  the  practice  of  try- 
ing to  minimize  the  volume  of  business  from  agents. 

Instead  of  seeking  to  encourage  the  agents  to  develop  more 
business  for  newspapers,  many  publishers  have  continuously  sought 
to  drive  these  agents  out  of  business,  by  failure  to  compensate  them 
for  service  which  they  alone  are  able  to  render. 

Few,  if  any,  newspapers  are  equipped  to  render  the  advertiser 
or  prospective  advertiser,  the  sort  of  service  the  agent  can  render; 
and  yet  many  have  not  recognized  this  condition  and  have  thus 
been  led  to  nullify  the  great  service  that  might  have  been  added  to 
their  own  promotional  service,  had  they  done  so 

We  must  help  the  agents  develop  more  busmess  for  us  and 
protect  them  from  the  competition  of  irresponsible  mdividuals  and 
firms  seekmg  to  parade  as  advertising  agents. 


JASON  ROGERS, 

rublisher  New  York  Globe. 


New  York.  July  18,  1918. 


Series  of  Trade-paper  Advertisements   Inserted  for  the   Purpose  of 
Stimulating   Newspapers  to   Closer  Co-operation   with   Advertising 

Agents. 


n 


1 


Co-operation 


■u&vrv^^'mtij^j^us  vjiigi'?iajm'JS3Ba 


As  viewed  in  many  newspaper  offices,  co-operation  too  often  takes  on 
one  of  the  many  varieties  of  promises  of  thin)^  to  be  performed,  rather 
than  broad,  effective  service  of  the  sort  the  experienced  space  buyer  knows 
must  be  had  to  make  his  projected  campaign  a  success. 

Co-operation  of  the  old  style  is  a  thing  that  most  of  our  space  buyers 
flee  from  as  they  would  the  promises  of  dreamers  and  incompetents  The 
new  co-operation  is  being  built  upon  sounder  fojindatioa^  than  "conversation" 
and  "glowing  promises." 

The  t>est  thought  in  the  advertising  business  is  being  directed  to  the 
construction  of  greatest  service  to  the  advertiser  for  the  purpose  of  making 
advertising  more  profitable  and  more  definite  in  results. 

We  Must  Co-operate  With  the  Agents 

The  day  is  close  at  hand  when  a  sufficient  proportion  of  the  newspapers 
of  the  country  will  commence  to  see  tke  advantage  of  closer  and  more  effective 
support  of  the  worth-whik  advertising  agents  for  the  stimubtion  of  increased 
volume  of  business. 

The  scarecrow  "commission,  "when  charged  as  an  expense  on  our  books, 
has  in  my  opinion  done  more  to  nullify  the  great  service  the  agents  could 
do  for  us  than  almost  any  other  factor  in  our  business 

I  am  commg  to  the  belief  that  it  is  foolish  to  withhold  agents'  com- 
mission on  local  business  when  the  agents  can  render  a  service  that  is  helpful 
alike  to  the  advertiser  and  the  newspaper,  and  a  service  which  the  average 
newspaper  cannot  render  By  considering  our  net  rate  as  our  only  rate, 
carrying  all  business  as  net,  we  can  more  readily  bring  ourselves  to  pay 
the  agent  for  the  service  he  can  render 

JASON  ROGERS, 

Publisher  New  York  Globe. 

New  York,  July  24,  1918. 


Effective 
Co-operation 

will  be  the  outcome  of  the  big  thought  that  is  now  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
unconsciously  are  viewing  the  large  future  of  newspaper  advertising  rather 
than  its  immediate  present.  It  is  the  making  of  constructive  dreams  come,  true 
that  is  most  interesting  in  business  or  other  endeavor. 

Before  we  are  ready  for  effective  co-operation  we  must  carefully  prepare  the  soil 
for  the  seed  which  we  will  plant.  Both  newspaper  and  agent  must  be  brought 
to  more  fully  appreciate  their  mutual  interests  and  responsibilities  for  the  re- 
sults from  the  advertiser's  investment. 

The  newspaper  solicitor  must  be  encouraged  to  temporarily  forego  deeds  of 
achievement  in  the  mere  sale  of  space,  and  he  must  be  made  devote  his  energies 
and  efforts  to  co-operating  with  advertising  agents  and  advertising  managers, 
to  makt  advertising  more  productive. 

Advertising  agents  must  learn  that  in  order  to  get  the  whole-hearted  support 
of  the  newspapers  in  serving  the  advertiser's  interests,  they  in  turn  must  give 
to  the  newspapers  that  consideration  and  treatment  which  their  merits  not 
only  warrant  but  absolutely  demand  now  more  than  ever. 

Must  Co-operate 

With  the  Agents 

Big  increased  volume  of  advertising  is  in  pro.spect  ever>'where.  We  newspaper 
men  are  seldom  equipped  to  successfully  go  beyond  the  development  of  a  local 
account  and  even  then  are  not  rigged  to  continuously  handle  it  successfully. 

By  recognizing  responsible  and  competent  local  agency  and  service  men  to  the 
extent  of  paying  commissions  on  new  local  business  we  will  be  bringing  to  our 
help  new  and  forceful  machinery  for  the  stimtilation  of  new  regular  business. 

With  newspapers  in  all  the  leading  cities  thus  co-operating  in  the  development 
of  new  local  business  which  in  time  will  grow  into  general  accounts,  there  will  be 
produced  a  larger  volume  of  profitable,  resultful  business  for  all. 


JASON    ROGERS, 

Publisher  New  York  Globe. 


New  York,  Aug.  1,  1918. 


I 


*  r ". 


■ 


I' 


'I 


1 


I 


Th  Spirit  of 

CO-OPERATION 


must  be  more  generally  established  and  practised  by  our 
newspapers  before  they  will  commence  to  secure  any 
appreciable  part  of  the  advertising  which  rightfully  should 
come  to  them  from  merchants  and  manufacturers  seeking 
trade  expansion. 

Selfish  attempts  to  secure  temporary  advantages  over 
a  competitor  seem  a  favorite  practice  among  our  news- 
papers? Small-bore  men  should  be  replaced  with  those 
able  to  see  beyond  the  day's  profit. 

As  the  Curtain  Rises 

upon  the  tcene  of  the  new  deoelopmentt  in  advertUing, 
thote  able  to  dincern  the  indications  for  the  future  lee  two 
big  ba»ic  principles  among  many  other*  which  we  mu$t 
ttsaimilate  and  practises — 

/.  Cut  out  the  knocking  of  a  competitor  and 
boost  newspaper  advertising  regardless  of 
whether  we  get  it  in  our  own  newspaper j>r  not. 

2.  Frankly  pay  the  advertising  agent  a  com- 
mission on  new  business  which  he  create*  for 
u*,  whether  it  is  local  or  foreign. 


Let  us  first  adopt  and  practise  these  two  simple  rules 
and  we  will  find  that  our  foreign  business  will  more  than 
doubte  in  a  year.  Then  we  will  be  ready  to  undertake 
still  greater  refinements  such  as  the  flat  rate,  no  free 
notices,  etc.,  e^g, 

JASON   ROGERS, 

Publisher  New  York  Globe. 
New  York,  August  i8,  1918. 


1 


.J 


T/ie  Spirit  of 

Co-operation 

urged  by  necessities  of  war  conditions  is  growing  by  leaps  and  bounds 
in  every  direction.  Selfishness  and  destructive  competition  are  being 
crushed  out  by  powers  more  forceful  than  in  peace  times.  This  .is  going 
to  be  one  of  the  great  benefits  growing  out  of  the  war, 

For  best  and  soundest  business  it  is  desirable  that  all  important 
factors  in  any  situation  get  together  to  iron  out  wastes  and  expensive  buck- 
ing up  against  condition-s,  often  very  easily  adjusted  when  all  at  interest 
approach  a  problem  in  the  proper  spirit. 

Between  Newspapers,  Advertisers 
and  Advertising  Agents 

there  is  abundant  opportunity  for  effective  co-operation  which  will 
reduce  selling  costs,  create  immensely  enlarged  markets  for  standard 
advertised  goods,  and_double  or  treble^e  volume  of  general  advertising 
in  the  newspapers. 

So  long  as  newspapers  withhold  commissions  from  advertising  agents 
on  local  business,  the  agents  will  continue  to  be  forced  to  seek  other 
mediums  that  will  pay  for  service  rendered  by  them.  The  new  advertiser 
more  often  than  not  will  refuse  to  pay  full  newspaper  rat^s  plus  a  service 
charge  to  the  agent  caring  for  his  business. 

If  our  newspapers  will  gradually  come  to  an  understanding  by  whkh 
commissions  will  be  paid  on  local  "new  business"  they  will  be  going  a  long 
way  toward  helping  the  real  service  agent  to  live  and  enable  him  to  use 
their  columns. 


JASON  ROGERS 

Publisher  New  York  Globe. 


New  York.  Sept.  5,  1918. 


•I 


It 


i  Mi 


t 


I 


V? 


I 


)i 


Let  Us  Get  Together 

for  Maximum  Results 


During  the  past  two  months  the  NEW  YORK  GLOBE  has  been 
using  space  in  the  newspapers  and  advertising  trade  papers  "Printer's 
Ink,"  "The  Editor  and  Publisher,"  "The  Fourth  Estate,"  "Advertising 
News,"  "Newspaperdom,"  and  "Judicious  Advertising"  for  the  purpose  of. 
urging  newspaper  publishers  and  advertising  agents  to  get  closer  together 
for  greater  efficiency  and  improved  service  to  the  advertiser. 

We  have  indicated  that  an  important  reason  why 
agencies  cannot  afford  to  throw  more  of  the  local  business 
which  they  create  into  the  newspapers  is  because  the 
newspapers  in  few  cities  pay  a  commission  for  such 
service. 

We  have  indfcated  that  few  newspapers  are  equipped 
to  continuously  serve  a  large  group  of  customers  in 
similar  lines,  while  the  agencies  can  render  such  service 

We  have  indicated  that  local  business  going  out 
from  its  home  town  becomes  general  business  and  that 
in  nearly  every  city  or  town  there  is  some  industry 
capable  of  being  so  expanded. 

We  have  indicated  that  through  the  sane  and  fair 
treatment  of  responsible  advertising  agents  the  news- 
papers can  greatly  increase  the  volume  of  their 
advertising. 

The  Globe  has  shown  the  way  and  sent  thousands  of  letters  and  ads 
to  newspaper  publishers  and  agents.  The  Globe  will  continue  to  urge 
greater  co-operation. 

JASON  ROGERS, 

Publisher  The  Globe. 

Nim  York.  Stpltmkt  II    IW 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      431 

appreciate  the  work  that  the  agencies  can  do  for 
them  and  take  full  advantage  of  it,  pay  the  agencies 
reasonable  commissions  and  work  with  them.  At 
the  same  time  regulate  the  activities  of  the  agencies 
and  insist  on  all  agencies  that  are  recognized  and 
commissioned  to  act  as  national  solicitors  living  up 
to  the  reasonable  requirements  of  their  responsibilities. 

Established  national  advertisers  are  the  shining 
marks  for  all  other  kinds  of  advertising  solicitation. 
"You  are  spending  enough  in  the  pubHcations  of 
this  country,"  is  their  cry;  **you  should  use  bill- 
boards, street-cars,  painted  signs,  or  direct  adver- 
tising," as  the  case  may  be,  and  the  advertiser  is 
inclined  to  listen,  for  these  other  advertising  propa- 
gandists are  well  organized.  They,  too,  have  their 
national  solicitors  whom  they  support  in  ways  un- 
dreamed of  by  the  publications.  They  refuse  to 
accept  national  business  save  through  their  properly 
equipped  national  solicitors.  Their  association  car- 
ries on  a  constant  supporting  propaganda,  directed 
not  only  at  the  advertiser,  but  to  the  wholesaler,  his 
travelers,  and  to  the  retailers  in  every  line,  in  favor 
of  their  own  particular  line  of  advertising.  These 
same  advertisers  that  they  are  approaching  usually 
have  been  developed  in  the  first  place  by  the  national 
solicitors  of  the  publishers  of  the  country,  the  agen- 
cies, but  the  publishers  only  partially  support  their 
agencies,  and  an  advertiser  is  very  prone  to  be  in- 
fluenced when  he  is  urged  by  his  trade  and  his  travel- 
ers to  consider  forms  of  supplementary  advertising, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  publishers  with  whom  a  larger 
portion  of  his  appropriation  should  be  spent. 

It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  press  of  this  country 
was  indifferent  to  the  situation.    From  the  attitude  of 


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432      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

some  of  the  publishers  we  might  gather  that  national 
advertisers  were  anxious  to  get  into  the  publications 
and  that  agencies  were  stepping  in  between  them  and 
such  advertisers  to  their  detriment.  These  national 
advertisers  were  not  anxious  to  advertise  when  the 
agencies  developed  them;  it  took  courage  on  their 
part  and  mighty  hard  work  on  the  part  of  their 
national  solicitors  to  get  them  to  venture  their  money, 
and  it  takes  hard  work  to  keep  many  of  them  from 
placing  other  forms  of  advertising  first.  How  hard 
it  is  to  convert  a  man  to  advertising  every  advertising 
solicitor  knows.  Most  advertisers  can  only  judge 
their  results  in  a  broad  and  general  way,  and,  more- 
over, they  constantly  "fall  from  grace"  and  have 
to  be  converted  over  and  over  again.  Even  wh(in 
finally  convinced  it  is  the  hardest  sort  of  hard  work 
to  get  the  advertiser  to  increase  his  appropriation 
use  larger  space  and  to  add  more  mediums,  rather 
than  dissipate  his  efforts  in  other  kinds  of  supple- 
mentary advertising  before  what  should  be  his  main 
effort  is  really  adequately  provided  for. 

The  publishers  need  the  work  of  all  properly  con- 
stituted advertising  agencies  of  this  country  in  a 
most  urgent  way.  The  advertising  agencies  na^d 
the  support  and  co-operation,  and  the  regulatio:is 
and  protection  that  the  publishers  of  this  country 
can  give  them,  if  they  would  only  do  so. 


PART   VII 


I  I 


il 


LXIII 


Advertising  Brilliants 


*! 


My  only  excuse  for  drawing  so  copiously  on  the 
work  of  others  in  this  section  is  to  put  into  the  per- 
manent records  of  constructive  advertising  a  selec- 
tion of  the  most  notable  bits  from  scrap-book  records 
which  I  have  been  keeping    for   upward  of    thirty 

years. 

The  two  contributions  from  Thomas  E.  Dockrell, 
**  Superiority  of  the  Newspaper  as  an  Advertising 
Medium"  and  "The  Law  of  Repetition,"  are  brilliants 
which  should  be  fresh  in  the  minds  of  every  advertis- 
ing man. 

In  "Advertising  an  Unknown  Want"  William  R. 
Hotchkin  touches  upon  a  phase  of  the  psychology  of 
advertising  seldom  understood  by  newspaper-men. 
"Bamum'  as  an  Advertising  Writer,"  by  Bert  Moses, 
presents  a  consideration  of  the  greatest  showman  who 
ever  lived  as  interesting  as  it  is  important. 

"Henry  Ford  the  Super  Advertiser"  is  a  study  of 
the  quantity  production  genius  of  the  age  from  my 
own  point  of  view,  showing  unlimited  range  for  the 
appHcation  of  the  basic  Ford  idea. 

In  "The  Time  Element  in  Advertising"  J.  F. 
Jacobs,  a  Southern  advertising  expert,  presents  a  phase 
of  advertising  research  and  experience  which  most 


\     »! 


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436      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

of  us  realize  exists,  but  which  few  of  us  have  ever 
taken  the  time  to  work  out  as  interestingly  as  he  ha-s 

done 

Herbert  Casson,  for  a  time  associated  with  the 
H.  K.  McCann  Agency,  leaves  a  bright  spot  in  my 
memory  of  addresses  on  advertising.  In  "Efficient 
Newspaper  Advertising"  Mr.  Casson  is  seen  to  full 
advantage  as  a  close  student  of  printed  salesmanship. 

In  "Selling  Costs"  J.  George  Frederick,  editor  of 
Advertising  and  Selling  and  manager  of  the  New  York 
Business  Bourse,  presents  ideas  of  suggestive  value 
to  those  selling  newspaper  advertising  space. 

"Modem  Advertising,"  a  historical  review  from  a 
special  issue  of  The  London  Times,  deserves  a  place 
in  a  permanent  record  of  advertising  and  pays  a 
striking  tribute  to  the  superiority  of  American  ad- 
vertising efficiency. 

In  "Killing  the  Beginner  in  Advertising,"  written 
by  me  in  1910,  I  relate  some  of  my  early  experience's 
in  selling  advertising  and  trying  to  keep  it  sold  in 
spite  of  the  knocks  and  destructive  efforts  of  solici- 
tors representing  other  mediums. 

The  remaining  bits  are  just  thrown  in  for  good 
measure  and  to  round  out  the  picture  I  have  tried  to 
develop  regarding  the  building  of  newspaper  adver- 
tising and  the  psychology  upon  which  it  is  founded. 


LXIV 

Henry  Ford  the  Super  Advertiser 

Henry  Ford,  the  automobile  manufacturer,  who, 
from  a  standing  start,  has  developed  a  business  of 
3,000  cars  a  day  or  about  a  milHon  a  year  for  a  gross 
profit  of  nearly  $100,000,000  a  year,  stands  as  the 
advertising  genius  of  the  generation.  It  is  not  fair 
to  say  that  Ford  is  not  an  advertiser;  he  is  more  than 
that.  He,  by  instinct,  more  precious  than  ahnost  any 
other  business  possession,  knows  how  to  cash  in  on 
words  and  acts  in  a  way  that  others  cannot  equal  by 
the  expenditures  of  millions  of  dollars. 

I  well  remember  Ford's  exhibit  of  his  crude  little 
flivver  at  the  first  big  New  York  Automobile  Show, 
in  1899.  It  was  the  laughing-stock  of  that  show  of 
freaks  of  which  less  than  half  a  dozen  lived  to  tell 
the  story.  Ford  got  lots  of  space  in  the  newspapers 
for  his  assertion  that  he  wanted  to  make  in  large 
quantities  a  car  to  sell  for  less  than  $750  each.  Every 
one  said  that  he  was  crazy.  Of  course,  as  it  turns  out, 
none  of  them  knew  what  the  cars  they  were  trying  to 
sell  at  various  prices  really  cost  them  to  build,  and 
Ford  had  skinned  them  a  thousand  ways. 

Ford,  who  had  grown  up  a  mechanic,  had  an  engine 
that  he  knew  was  all  right,  and  as  soon  as  he  hit 
upon  the  design  of  a  body  that  suited  him  he  went 


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438      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

straight  away  on  a  quantity-producing  basis  that 
recognized  no  change  of  seasons  or  styles.  One  hun- 
dred dollars  a  car  for  profit  was  all  he  wanted.  Aji 
output  of  1,000,000  cars  a  year  with  $100  a  car  profit 
means  $100,000,000  net,  a  sum  to  conjure  with,  but 
just  as  simple  and  logical  a  result  as  adding  two  and 
two  together  if  you  get  the  Ford  conception  into  your 

head. 

Naturally,  the  whole  country  watched  with  interest 
the  developments  of  the  man  who  was  going  to  turn 
out  automobiles  for  less  than  $750.  He  hadn't  spent 
a  cent  for  advertising  to  get  that  fact  well  grounded 
into  the  minds  of  the  New  York  public.  Newspapers 
everywhere  picked  the  item  up,  for  it  was  real  news 
and  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  Ford  was  more  sought 
after  by  those  wanting  cheap  cars  than  if  he  had  been 
able  to  spend  thousands  of  dollars  in  advertising. 
His  every  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  and  produce 
cars  for  $750  was  news  and  continued  to  be  news. 

Naturally,  under  such  circumstances.  Ford  has 
never  had  to  advertise  to  any  great  extent  to  sell  cars. 
He  has  never  had  a  serious  competitor.  Every  one 
else  who  started  after  him  got  side-tracked  and 
switched  off  the  big  idea  just  the  way  imitators 
usually  do.  Some  dude  or  efficiency  expert  throws 
sand. in  the  gear-box  by  suggesting  seasonal  changes 
and  refinements  which  mar  the  performance  and  turn 
it  into  pure  experimentation.  Here  is  where  Ford 
stands  in  a  class  by  himself,  and  against  all  advice 
and  pressure  has  stuck  to  his  knitting. 

A  simple  announcement  in  the  daily  newspapei-s 
of  a  new  reduced  price  for  Ford  cars  made  possible, 
as  explained  in  the  ad.,  by  large  production,  served 
a   larger   and   more   effective   purpose   than   would 


1 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      439 

many  pages  of  carefully  prepared  arguments  regard- 
ing novelties,  new  design,  and  such,  prepared  by 
other  makers.  A  360-line  advertisement  inserted  in 
142  daily  newspapers  sold  338,771  cars,  as  shown  by 
the  statement  of  C.  A.  Brownell,  advertising  manager 
of  the  Ford  Motor  Company. 

No  matter  how  long  I  live  I  never  expect  to  hear 
of  the  equal  of  Mr.  Ford's  methods  of  meeting  a  de- 
mand on  the  part  of  Ford  agents  for  a  larger  com- 
mission than  he  was  allowing  them.  He  simply 
showed  them  proofs  of  some  ads.  he  proposed  to  run 
offering  three  cars  for  $1,000  to  as  many  blocks-of- 
three  people  as  would  order  them  direct.  The  agents 
went  back  in  their  boxes  without  a  complaint.  Ford 
would  have  secured  several  million  dollars'  worth  of 
new  pubHcity  from  the  newspapers  for  another  reduc- 
tion to  users  had  the  agents  failed  to  see  the  point. 

Ford's  axiom,  "Any  man  who  can  make  anything 
in  the  public  demand  better  and  cheaper  than  any 
one  else  can  sell  all  he  can  turn  out,"  is  a  basic  truth 
which  is  as  simple  as  it  is  effective,  and  which  by 
his  works  he  has  abundantly  demonstrated.  Many 
newspapers  have  sought  to  laugh  at  the  Ford  car, 
but,  as  we  all  know,  the  result  has  been  just  so  much 
free  publicity  for  it.  Ford's  experience  goes  to  prove 
that  advertisers  who  are  prone  to  fear  every  adverse 
current  or  criticism  must  have  a  screw  loose  some- 
where in  their  armor. 

Ford,  like  Thomas  Lipton,  the  famous  British  tea 
man  and  yacht  owner,  has  found  that  every  time 
his  name  gets  into  print  is  worth  just  so  much  to  him; 
when  a  man  has  the  goods  a  knock  is  a  boost.  Any- 
thing but  the  silence  of  the  tomb  regarding  his  prod- 
uct is  desirable  by  a  manufacturer  with  something 


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440      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

to  sell.  The  trouble  with  too  many  makers  of  things 
is  that  they  stifle  all  possibility  of  enormous  sale  by 
their  greed  for  heavy  profits. 

There  is  a  whole  world  of  sound  common  sense 
behind  a  success  like  that  of  Henry  Ford.  It  is  pres- 
ent to  a  degree  in  the  success  of  many  other  men  of 
this  generation,  but  there  is  always  something  missing 
to  equal  that  of  Ford.  "Make  something  that  peo- 
ple need  and  make  it  so  good  that  they  will  buy  your 
particular  product;  actually  render  them  a  service 
by  seUing  them  the  article.  I  tell  you  the  man  who 
has  the  idea  of  service  in  his  business  never  need  to 
worry  about  profits."  What  a  world  of  value  this 
Fordism  possesses  to  those  seeking  to  know  how  to 
advertise  a  product  for  which  there  is  a  general  de- 
mand and  which  they  want  to  make  known ! 

The  following  interview  with  C.  A.  Brownell,  ad- 
vertising manager  of  the  Ford  Motor  Car  Company, 
reprinted  from  The  Fourth  Estate,  tells  of  a  record 
probably  never  equaled  for  results  from  a  single  in- 
sertion of  copy  in  a  group  of  newspapers: 

"We  analyze  our  advertising  when  we  buy  space. 

"We  seek  the  lines  of  least  resistance  and  the  best 
media  to  approach  the  most  people. 

"We  aim  to  carry  our  message  to  the  maximum  num- 
ber of  people  at  the  minimum  of  expense. 

"To  attain  this  end  we  found  that  360  lines  in  142 
newspapers  in  51  different  cities  of  the  United  States 
(taking  N.  W.  Ayer's  Directory  as  a  basis)  would 
reach  an  aggregate  of  15,477,422  individual  subscrib- 
ers, not  three  readers  to  each  paper,  but  individual 
subscribers. 

"Our  advertising  agents  investigated  at  the  same 
time   and   found  that  the  individual  subscribers  of 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     441 

The  Saturday  Evening  Post  and  Collier's  in  the  same 
51  cities  aggregated  only  878,538. 

"Now  360  lines  in  142  newspapers  cost  us  le^  than 

,000. 

"One  page  space  in  The  Saturday  Evening  Post  and 
Collier's  would  have  cost  us  $7,500,  and  the  difference 
in  the  number  of  people  who  would  receive  our 
message. 

"We  spoke  to  15,477,422  people  through  the  news- 
papers, and  through  these  two  weekly  magazines 
could  have  reached  but  878,538  individual  subscribers. 

"I  want  to  say  right  here  that  I  am  not  saying 
anything  against  the  advertising  in  the  magazines 
referred  to.  They  are  both  excellent  mediums.  But 
every  man  who  reads  The  Saturday  Evening  Post  and 
Collier's  Weekly  gives  undeniable  evidence  that  he 
surely  is  a  reader  of  the  daily  newspapers.  We 
reached  the  multitudes,  and  we  sold  33^,771  cars. 
Wh3^  speak  to  the  few  when  you  can  talk  to  the  millions 
for  less  money? 

"Be  practical  in  advertising. 

"We  found  that  course  to  be  profitable  in  the 
Ford  Motor  Car  Company.  In  this  case  we  reached 
15,477,422  people  in  one  advertisement  of  the  Ford 
Motor  Cars. 

"We  did  not  use  page  space  because  we  could  say 
all  we  had  to  say  in  360  lines.  We  had  reached  in 
our  production  248,307  cars  a  year.  We  had  the 
facilities  by  which  we  could  make  300,000  and  more 
cars  just  as  well,  and  I  said:  *Make  them.  There 
will  be  a  sale  for  them.* 

"We  advertising  men  always  figure  we  can  sell 
anything. 

We  could  have  reduced  the  price  of  the  car  because 


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442      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

our  facilities  were  such  that  we  could  make  it  cheaper. 
Not  cheaper  in  quality,  but  cheaper  by  methods  of  pro- 
duction, but  we  didn't  reduce  the  price  of  the  cars. 

"Instead  of  that  we  said  we  will  make  300,000  and 
sell  them  within  the  year  if  we  can,  and  if  we  do,  we 
will  rebate  or  give  back  to  every  buyer  of  the  Ford 
car  within  the  twelve  months  from  $40  to  $60  on  each 
car,  provided  we  make  and  sell  our  production  of 
300,000  within  the  twelve  months  of  our  fiscal  year. 

"We  sold  338,771,  and  we  rebated  to  every  one 
a  $50  check. 

"We  had  run  one  advertisement  of  360  lines,  and 
what  did  it  do?  Why,  it  told  15,477,422  individuals 
scattered  all  over  the  United  States  (speaking  in  142 
newspapers  in  51  great  cities)  the  prices  of  our  cars 
and  our  proposed  cash  rebate  if  we  could  sell  300,000 
cars  in  twelve  months.  We  put  our  advertisement 
where  the  people  expected  us  to  advertise.  We  went 
to  the  people  and  the  people  did  the  rest. 

"It  further  established  the  stability  of  our  com- 
pany and  the  stability  of  its  advertising.  No  one 
questioned  that  advertising  at  all.  The  word  of  the 
Ford  Motor  Company  goes.  We  promise  and  we 
deliver  our  promises. 

"Then  we  set  out  to  make  500,000  the  next  year, 
and  made  501,275.  The  pace  grows.  Last  year  our 
production  was  785,426  cars,  and  our  estimate  for 
this  year  is  900,000.  Present  production  averages 
2,700  cars  daily.  We  expect  to  reach  3,000  daily  in 
November,  or  a  million  a  year. 

"Ford  advertising  is  still  confined  to  the  daily  and 
weekly  newspapers.  When  we  once  got  started  we 
couldn't  stop.  We  employ  33,000  men.  We  are 
now  turning  out  1,000,000  a  year,  over  2,700  a  day." 


LXV 

Advertising  an  Unknown  Want. — W.  R.  Hotchkin 

W.  R.  Hotchkin,  one  of  the  clearest  thinkers  on 
the  subject  of  newspaper  advertising  as  a  selling 
force,  who  for  years  had  charge  of  the  advertising 
of  John  Wanamaker,  and  later  of  Gimbel  Brothers  in 
New  York,  recently  made  another  notable  contribu- 
tion to  the  cause  of  advertising  in  an  address  delivered 
before  the  Nashville  Advertising  Club  on  March  7, 
191 7,  part  of  which  was  as  follows: 

"When  we  advertising  men  take  a  survey  of  the 
great  public,  our  customers  and  prospects,  from  the 
windows  of  the  Woolworth  Building,  or  from  wher- 
ever our  watch-tower  may  be,  we  have  to  think  of 
the  thousands  of  millions  of  people  as  belonging  to 
two  main  classes: 

"  I.  The  people  who  know  that  they  want  our  kind 
of  goods;   and 

"2.  The  people  who  don't  know  that  they  want  our 
goods,  or  who  don't  even  know  that  our  goods  exist. 

''Most  advertisers  burst  right  into  the  hot  turmoil 
of  competition,  to  get  the  dollars  of  the  people  who 
know  what  they  want,  but  don't  know  yet  where  they 
are  going  to  buy  it,  or  perhaps  don't  know  what 
trade-mark,  if  any,  is  going  to  be  on  the  goods  they 
will  select. 


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444      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"This  is  a  fascinating  field  for  advertising  and  sales- 
manship. No  good  merchant,  and  no  smart  adver- 
tiser will  neglect  it  for  a  moment.  It  is  spectacular, 
inspiring,  resultful  effort. 

"Our  day's  work  is  there.  Our  regular  business  is 
there.  We  must  get  those  sales.  We  don't  need  to 
be  urged  to  do  our  utmost  to  get  that  business. 

"But  we  all  want  increased  business. 

"We  want  new  customers. 

"We  want  to  sell  our  product  for  new  uses. 

"It  is  all  very  well  to  get  the  sales  of  things  that 
people  want  to  buy ;  but  that  is  too  small  in  volume. 
We  must  make  people  want  many  other  things,  in 
order  to  get  a  big  increase  in  business.  So  the  ad- 
vertising manager  must  have  two  things  constantly 

in  mind: 

''First.  What  do  people  want? 

"And  his  advertising  must  let  them  know  that  he 
is  able  to  supply  that  want.  That  is  one  vital  side 
of  advertising. 

"But  the  other  side  is  not  less  important,  and  is 
too  often  either  neglected  or  only  half  done,  and  that 
vital  question  is :  What  do  I  want  to  sell,  that  I  must 
make  people  want  to  buy? 

"Commerce  is  constantly  demonstrating  that  mill- 
ions of  people  need  things  very  badly,  though  they 
don't  even  know  that  the  things  exist.  This  point  is 
very  graphically  illustrated  by  a  commodity  that  I 
have  been  doing  a  lot  of  writing  and  talking  about 
recently:  It  is  Pyrene,  the  well-known  fire  extin- 
guisher. • 

"It  is  an  unknown  want  in  the  home  that  never 

dreams  of  fire. 

"Yet,  how  vital  it  becomes  when  advertising  sug- 


W.    R.   HOTCHKIN 
A  worker  in  the  world  of  Advertising  who  has  made  a  national  reputation. 


T 


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BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING        445 

gests  the  importance  of  having  it  at  hand  for  instant 
use  when,  at  midnight,  you  smell  the  smoke  and  find 
the  flames  leaping  up  the  stairway.  ^    • 

"  It  may  be  an  unknown  want — ^we  hope  that  it  will 
be  forever  an  unused  want,  like  the  life  insurance, 
where  we  win  in  life,  when  we  don't  cash  in,  in  dollars. 

*'It  is  an  unknown  want,  when  the  automobile  is 
running  beautifully  with  your  foot  on  the  accelerator; 
but  it  is  a  vital  need  when  an  explosion  under  the  hood 
sets  the  whole  works  on  fire  and  destroys  your  car. 

"Pyrene  is  only  one  article  among  thousands  that 
have  a  definite  usefulness,  that  would  give  a  definite 
service  to  the  people  who  should  buy  them,  but  who 
do  not  realize  the  need  and  hence  are  not  provided 
when  the  article  is  wanted  for  use. 

**  There  are  thousands  of  manufacturers  who  are 
working  upon  this  principle,  because  they  have  to 
create  an  entirely  new  market  for  their  product. 
They  are  producing  things  that  are  unknown  wants. 

"The  manufacture  of  very  few  articles  is  attempted 
unless  the  manufacturer  sees  the  place  where  it  def- 
initely can  serve  a  purpose;  but  the  ultimate  con- 
sumer may  neither  know  that  such  an  article  is  manu- 
factured nor  contemplated. 

"This  means  that  the  article  itself  must  not  only  be 
advertised,  but  its  use  must  be  advertised  in  a  man- 
ner which  will  compel  the  reader  to  feel  the  need 

of  it. 

"For  instance,  the  manufacturer  of  Dioxogen  has 
exactly  the  same  thing  to  do  as  the  manufacturer  of 
Pyrene.  Nobody  thinks  about  Dioxogen  until  he  has 
a  bruise  or  a  cut. 

"But  the  want  is  not  realized  until  the  accident  oc- 
curs, and  yet  it  is  a  very  definite  service  on  the  part 


! 


'%k. 


I 


41 


«  ? 


I    *■ 


446      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

of  the  manufacturer  to  insist  that  Dioxogen  be  put 

in  every  home. 

"In  the  old  days  everybody  thought  it  was  perfectly 
all  right  to  drink  two  or  three  cups  of  coffee  at  every 
meal  Mr.  Post  came  along,  and,  through  his  adver- 
tising reduced  the  market  for  coffee  and  created  an 
enomious  sale  for  a  commodity  that  was  unknown 

and  unused  before. 

"To-day  the  Standard  Oil  Company  has  found  an- 
other way  to  get  a  high  price  for  oil,  besides  jumpmg 
uo  the  price  of  gasolene,  and  so  they  put  a  petroleum 
product  in  a  bottle  and  call  it  'Nujol,'  and  are  now 
making  thousands  of  people  think  that  it  is  a  neces- 
sity of  life.  •.-,  -D 

"  Kellogg  is  going  after  the  same  market,  with  liran. 

"A  tremendous  new  market  has  been  created  in  the 
kitchen  by  developing  the  desire  for  kitchen  cabinets, 
fireless  cookers,  aluminum  wares,  and  other  articles. 

"The  enormous  power  of  advertising  in  creating  new 
business  may  be  attributed  directly  to  the  continuous 
clever  suggesting  of  the  merchandise  to  the  public, 
creating  an  intense  desire  for  the  goods  advertised  on 
the  part  of  people  who  would  never  have  thought  ot 

wanting  them. 

*'This  result  is  totally  overlooked  by  those  adver- 
tisers who  rely  on  such  general  publicity  as  a  pretty 
picture,  or  a  unique  design,  in  connection  with  the 
name  of  the  commodity,  in  order  to  stimulate  its  sale 

''  For  instance,  one  tobacco  concern  will  simply  print 
the  name  of  its  cigarette  or  tobacco  in  connection 
with  the  illustration  of  the  package,  or  with  the  Pict- 
ure of  a  beautiful  woman.  On  the  other  hand  the 
concern  that  realizes  the  power  of  suggestion  will  tell 
such  a  story  of  the  delights  that  come  from  smokir.g 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      447 

that  particular  brand  that  every  smoker  will  want 
to  try  it,  and  thousands  of  non-smokers  will  be  tempted 
to  learn  to  smoke,  in  anticipation  of  enjoying  the  de- 
lights that  have  been  exploited. 


IT   IS   THE    UNUSUAL   THAT   MAKES    BIG    SUCCESS 

"The  store  which  simply  prints  a  list  of  prices  day 
after  day  may  win  the  attention  of  people  who  have 
their  minds  made  up  to  buy  certain  things  at  that 
time;  but  such  advertising  has  no  more  influence  in 
creating  desire  for  the  merchandise  than  a  railroad 
schedule  has  in  tempting  people  to  travel. 

"The  vital  thing  for  the  retail  advertising  man  to 
think  about  is:  how  many  things  have  you  got  in 
stock  that  people  either  rarely  think  about  or  do 
not  even  know  exist? 

"How  are  these  things  going  to  be  sold  if  the  story 
is  not  told  in  the  newspapers? 

"Did  you  ever  realize  how  helpless  merchandise  was 
while  lying  back  in  the  shelves,  with  no  display  in  the 
windows,  no  word  about  it  in  the  newspapers,  and 
rarely  being  shown  by  the  salespeople? 

"All  of  this  merchandise  was  made  to  meet  some 
definite  want;  but  advertisers  are  neglecting  to  get 
together  the  goods  wanted  and  the  people  who 
want  it. 

"A  great  many  merchants  think  that  certain  goods 
won't  sell,  when  the  goods  have  never  had  a  chance. 

"The  first  way  to  increase  business  in  a  store  is  to 
sell  more  things  to  the  present  customers  of  the  store. 

"People  have  a  great  many  known  wants,  but  you 
are  only  getting  part  of  the  business  when  you  satisfy 
them  alone. 


S   '" 


'\ 


448      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

"You  must  educate  them  in  reference  to  the  un- 
known wants  that  you  can  also  supply,  and  thus 
sell  more  goods   to  every  customer  who  comes  to 

your  store. 

"Again  you  must  make  people  buy  oftener. 

"A  vastly  greater  quantity  of  hosiery  could  be  sold 
by  a  store  if  people  didn't  dam  their  stockings  so 
continuously.  Many  people  dam  their  stockings 
until  you  can  scarcely  see  any  of  the  original  soles, 
heels,  and  toes.  They  need  only  be  educated  to  the 
fact  that  the  same  amount  of  labor  would  be  worth 
vastly  more  than  the  small  saving  from  continuous 
darning.  If  a  man  were  told  what  a  labor  and  tax 
he  was  putting  on  his  wife  by  compelling  her  to  con- 
tinuously darn  his  old  socks,  he  would  have  enough 
compunction  to  buy  the  new  ones  that  you  want  to 

sell. 

"With  the  proper  kind  of  advertising  a  great  many 
more  corsets  could  be  sold.  The  figures  show  that, 
on  an  average,  a  woman  buys  only  one  corset  a  year; 
while  many  women  buy  more,  thousands  of  women 
do  not  buy  one  a  year  or  one  in  two  years.  The 
proper  educational  advertising  would  prove  to  women 
that  an  old  corset  makes  her  best  gowns  look  badly 
and  spoils  her  own  figure. 

"A  similar  educational  campaign  would  sell  vastly 
more  shoes,  blouses,  and  tooth-bmshes. 

"If  business  were  confined  to  the  sales  that  would 
be  made  to  people  who  woke  up  in  the  moming  with 
definite  wants  on  their  minds  most  department  stores 
would  have  to  go  out  of  business. 

"If  manufacturers  confined  their  production  to  the 
filling  of  the  wants  of  the  public,  for  things  for  which 
they  themselves  found  the  need,  American  commerce 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     449 

would  shrivel  and  the  country  would  be  filled  with 
the  unemployed. 

"The  unknown  want  is  a  most  powerful  factor  in 
making  sales,  and  hundreds  of  industries  depend  upon 
it  entirely.  We  all  realize  it,  when  we  think  about 
it ;  but  most  of  us  are  prone  to  overlook  it  in  the  rush 
of  our  day*s  work. 

"I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  one  of  the  greatest 
wastes  in  promotion  work  comes  from  failing  to  get 
the  impelling  argument  for  the  use  of  our  goods 
placed  in  the  most  effective  manner  before  the  eyes 
of  the  people  who  really  need  it. 

"When  goods  don't  sell  readily  the  storekeeper  is 
inclined  to  blame  it  on  the  price  and  make  a  reduc- 
tion that  kills  the  profits.  At  least  half  the  time  I  be- 
lieve that  diagnosis  is  wrong.  I  don't  believe  that  the 
merchandise  has  had  a  chance.  Either  its  story  has 
not  been  well  told  or  it  has  not  got  the  attention  of 
the  people  who  need  the  goods. 

So  this  is  the  great  advertising  problem: 
I.  To  analyze  the  uses  of  the  commodity  and  de- 
termine to  whom  the  goods  should  be  sold. 

"  2.  To  tell  the  story  of  the  goods  in  an  intelligent 
and  alluring  manner — to  interest  and  arouse  the  de- 
sire of  the  people  who  actually  want  your  goods. 

"3.  To  get  your  advertising  printed  in  the  best 
possible  mediums  to  reach  the  people  who  you  know 
will  want  them,  or  to  get  your  printed  matter  mailed 
to  the  list  of  names  of  people  who  want  the  goods. 

"In  other  words,  it  is  the  problem  of  both  merchant 
and  manufacturer  to  bring  together  the  goods  and 
the  people  who  want  them. 

"To  tell  the  people  why  they  want  the  goods,  and 
to  convince  them  of  their  need  of  them. 


({ 


<< 


i|j  <  I 


450      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

* 

"After  that  is  done  the  matter  of  price  becomes  a 
secondary  matter.  A  cut  price  is  unnecessary;  and 
a  fair  price  is  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  customer, 
and  the  merchant  fills  a  want  of  his  customer  while 
he  makes  a  profit  for  himself.  Everybody  is  happy 
because  a  real  constructive  piece  of  selling  has  been 
done." 


LXVI 


Barnum  as  an  Advertising  Writer. — Bert  Moses 


it 


^4  ■■ 


The  following  from  the  pen  of  my  old  friend  Bert 
M.  Moses,  in  Newspaper dom,  under  the  title,  "Bar- 
num an  Advertising  Writer  Before  He  Became  a 
Showman,"  is  a  brilliant  contribution  to  the  liter- 
ature of  advertising  which  every  newspaper-man  and 
advertiser  can  well  afford  to  study: 

**I  may  be  wrong,  of  course,  but  when  I  say  that 
Phineas  Taylor  Barnum  was  the  greatest  all-round 
advertiser  who  ever  lived  I  am  expressing  a  deep- 
seated  opinion.  This  man  Barnum  wrote  a  book 
about  himself,  fifty  years  ago,  that  tells  more  of  ad- 
vertising than  all  other  books  bunched.  It  is  most 
refreshing  to  turn  from  latter-day  advertising  books 
diluted  with  dilettantism  and  go  back  half  a  cen- 
tury to  this  Connecticut  Yankee  whose  name  and 
fame  ran  all  the  way  around  the  earth.  He  has  been 
dead  long  enough  so  that  a  correct  perspective  of 
his  character  and  accomplishments  can  be  seen.  The 
time  is  here  to  analyze  Bamum's  work  and  to  clear 
his  reputation  of  the  taint  that  he  was  a  dealer  in 
humbugs  and  made  his  money  by  fooling  and  hom- 
swoggling  the  public. 

"This  shall  be  a  sincere  effort  to  bring  Barnum  back 


7 


m 


} 


:||ii 


1 


452      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

to  public  view  in  advertising  circles.  His  life  should 
be  an  inspiration  to  every  man  who  aspires  to  succeed 
in  business,  for  he  began  with  nothing,  made  and 
lost  several  great  fortunes,  and  touched  the  lowest 
and  highest  spots  in  the  journey  from  cradle  to  casket. 
He  never  worked  on  the  theory  that  the  public 
liked  to  be  humbugged,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  ever 
expressed  such  a  sentiment.  I  have  just  finished 
reading  the  book  of  his  life,  and  throughout  its  eight 
hundred  pages  he  lays  down  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple that  'the  surest  way  of  deriving  the  greatest 
profit,  in  the  long  run,  is  to  give  the  people  as  much 
as  possible  for  their  money.'    The  quoted  words  are 

his  own. 

"Bamum,  it  seems,  was  the  first  professional  ad- 
vertisement writer  who  followed  that  precarious  avo- 
cation. He  states  in  his  work  that,  in  1841,  he  wrote 
ads.  and  notices  for  the  Bowery  Amphitheater,  and 
drew  down  the  fine  salary  of  four  dollars  a  week. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  the  work  he  then  did  at  'four 
per '  was  more  effective  than  anything  Charles  Austin 
Bates  did  in  the  heyday  of  his  fame,  when  his  income 
from  words  he  fished  out  of  his  ink-bottle  was  re- 
puted to  be  around  $25,000  a  year.  Some  time  ago 
a  Chicago  agency  boasted  that  it  had  on  its  pay-roll 
a  writer  who  was  paid  $50,000  yearly,  but  this  man's 
name  is  lost  to  memory  in  a  few  fleeting  months, 
while  the  name  of  Bamum,  whose  salary  for  writing 
was  less  than  an  office-boy's,  is  graven  deep  in  the 
granite  of  time.  Thus  do  we  see  that  to  judge  a 
man  by  his  salary  is  as  uncertain  as  to  judge  a  woman's 
mentality  by  her  millinery. 

"Bamum's  humor  was  perennial.     He  knew  the 
uplifting  influence  of  the  laugh,  and  could  go  off  in  a 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      453 

comer  and  enjoy  a  laugh  at  himself.  He  mingled 
wit  with  work,  and  the  fun  he  got  out  of  success 
counted  as  big  as  the  money.  His  eternal  energy 
plunged  him  into  interminable  turmoil,  but  his  fine 
sense  of  humor  never  failed  to  point  a  way  out.  The 
pages  of  his  autobiography  are  dotted  with  stories 
of  jokes  he  played  on  others  and  that  others  played 
on  him.  And  always  did  he  turn  a  funny  situation 
into  an  advertisement.  Whatever  he  did — whatever 
the  predicament — whatever  the  occasion — he  made 
news  matter  out  of  it,  and  the  papers  flung  his  fame 
to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  Triumphs,  successes, 
failures,  catastrophes — all  went  as  advertising  into 
his  perpetual  grist.  Nothing  he  did  or  failed  to  do 
passed  out  into  oblivion.  He  supplied  the  atmos- 
phere that  made  each  trivial  happening  an  occasion 
and  each  occasion  an  event.  The  time  of  Barnum 
marked  an  advertising  epoch. 

"The  term  'humbug'  was  an  epithet  that  jealous 
competition  hurled  at  Bamum,  and  it  was  an  epithet 
that  stuck.  And  yet  this  so-called  'humbug*  was 
nothing  but  psychology  under  another  label.  It  was 
that  element  in  advertising  which  arouses  curiosity, 
and  irresistibly  urges  the  public  to  yield  to  its  in- 
fluence. Barnum's  'humbugs'  were  thrown  in  free. 
People  paid  to  see  his  real  show,  and  no  showman 
ever  gave  so  much  for  the  price  of  admission  as  this 
Yank  from  Bridgeport.  Some  of  the  freak  things 
he  advertised  were  unquestionably  hoaxes,  but  the 
genuine  things  outnumbered  the  fictitious  as  a  thou- 
sand to  one.  The  hoaxes  gave  the  people  a  chance 
to  laugh,  and  a  laugh  is  always  worth  many  times 
what  it  costs.  In  Barnum's  case  the  cost  was  nil. 
The  hoax  was  piled  on  to  make  the  measure  run  over. 


^%i  ' 


lit   I' 


^T- 


•  1 

ii 


454      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

And  no  one  who  attended  Bamum's  shows  ever  said 
he  got  less  than  his  money's  worth. 

"The  humbug  and  hoax  are  with  us  yet,  but  they 
are  now  more  cleverly  camouflaged.  Billy  Sunday's 
work  is  honeycombed  with  humbug,  and  in  some 
degree  he  dupHcates  Barnum  as  an  advertiser,  but 
Bamum  gave  more  for  fifty  cents  than  Billy  ever  gave 
for  fifty  dollars.  'You  press  the  button;  we  do  the 
rest,'  is  humbug,  and  so  is  'Let  the  Gold  Dust  Twins 
Do  Your  Work.'  We  have  humbug  in  'The  Inger- 
soU  watch  is  the  watch  that  made  the  dollar  famous,' 
and  we  have  it  again  in  'Beecham's  pills  are  worth 
a  guinea  a  box.'  Humbug  of  the  22 -carat  variety 
is  found  in  the  working  formula  of  The  New  York 
Tribune— -'First  to  last,  the  truth— news,  editorials, 
advertisements.'  I  even  venture  to  say  that  in  this 
year  of  our  Lord,  191 8,  you  can  find  more  or  less  of 
this  form  of  humbug  in  every  conspicuous  success  in 
any  line  of  human  endeavor.  The  richest  man  in  the 
world  is  perhaps  the  most  colossal  humbug  of  them 
all,  and  yet  he  is  admitted  into  church  and  held  in 
high  esteem  in  respectable  circles. 

"Bamum  lived  in  a  time  when  it  was  considered 
proper  to  fool  and  trick  the  people.  The  buyer  w£.s 
expected  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  deception  and  fraud. 
The  more  success  a  tradesman  had  in  deceiving  his 
customers  the  better  was  his  reputation  as  a  shrewd 
business  man.  If  you  bought  sugar  and  found*  it 
mixed  with  sand,  you  had  only  yourself  to  blame. 
You  should  have  examined  your  purchase  carefully 
before  accepting  it.  If  you  found  a  brick  inside  a 
tub  of  butter,  the  man  who  tricked  you  was  simply 
more  clever  than  you.  If  the  nutmegs  proved  to  be 
wooden  when  you  got  them  home,  the  joke  was  en 


i 


..i 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      455 

you.  If  the  'all -wool'  suit  you  bought  was  half 
cotton,  why  didn't  you  detect  the  deception  before 
you  bought?  Caveat  emptor  was  a  legal  warning. 
Horse- trading  tricks  permeated  every  line  of  business, 
and  if  the  buyer  didn't  beware,  why,  he  ought  to  be 
cheated!  Such  were  the  times  when  Barnum  lived, 
and  yet  he  rose  superior  to  the  times  and  laid  his 
cards  on  the  table  face  up. 

"Let  Bamum  tell  of  his  methods  in  his  own  words: 
"*In  some  respects  I  fell  in  with  the  world's  way, 
and  if  my  "  puffing  "  was  more  persistent,  my  advertis- 
ing more  audacious,  my  pictures  more  exaggerated, 
my  flags  more  patriotic,  and  my  transparencies  more 
brilliant  than  they  would  have  been  under  the  man- 
agement of  my  neighbors,  it  was  not  because  I  had 
less  scruples  than  they,  but  more  energy,  far  more 
ingenuity,  and  a  better  foundation  for  such  promises. 
In  all  this,  if  I  cannot  be  justified,  I  at  least  find 
palliation  in  the  fact  that  I  presented  a  wilderness  of 
wonderful,  instructive,  and  amusing  realities  of  such 
evident  and  marked  merit  that  I  have  yet  to  learn 
of  a  single  instance  where  a  visitor  went  away  from 
the  museum  complaining  that  he  had  been  defrauded 
of  his  money.  Surely  this  is  an  offset  to  any  eccen- 
tricities to  which  I  may  have  resorted  to  make  my 
establishment  widely  known.' 

"The  only  protest  or  criticism  I  have  to  enter 
against  Barnum  is  because  of  his  exquisite  skill  in 
manipulating  the  free  reading  notice.  He  was  the 
prince  of  press  agents.  No  man  ever  got  within  gun 
range  of  his  genius  in  this  direction.  Coming  events 
cast  their  press  agents  before  whenever  Bamum  was 
out  in  quest  of  dollars,  and  the  papers  of  the  world 
gave  him  more  space  on  the  first  page  than  can  ever 


1 


! 


II 


456      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

be  computed.  He  reduced  space  panhandling  to  a 
fine  art,  and  while  he  paid  thousands  for  display  ad- 
vertising, he  annexed  millions'  worth  of  advertising 
for  nothing  in  the  news  columns.  He  magnified 
trifles  into  sensation  and  suppHed  more  readable  cojy 
to  reporters  than  all  other  showmen  put  together.  ^ 

''Some  one  once  asked  Artemus  Ward,  the  old-time 
humorist,  what  his  principles  were,  and  he  replied, 
'I  have  no  principles;  I  am  in  the  show  business.' 
Bamum  was  the  world's  most  successful  and  most 
conspicuous  showman,  and  it  is  interesting  to  read  what 
principles  governed  him.  This  is  what  he  has  to  s^iy 
on  that  subject:  'The  qualifications  of  a  shownian 
are  these :  He  must  have  a  decided  taste  for  catering 
to  the  public;  he  must  have  prominent  perceptive 
faculties;  he  must  have  tact,  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  great  suavity,  and  plenty  of  soft 
soap.'  Barnum  knew  human  nature  far  better 
through  his  Yankee  instinct  than  any  professional 
psychologist  ever  knew  after  wending  his  devious 
way    through    all  the   technical   institutions  of  the 

world. 

*'Bamum's  philosophy  of  advertising  is  condensed 
into  the  following  extract  taken  from  his  book  that 
was  written  half  a  century  ago.  Nothing  better  hias 
been  written  since.  He  exhausts  the  whole  subjcict 
of  advertising  in  these  brief  words,  and  we  must  admit 
that  we  know  nothing  new  to  add  to  Bamum's 
creed  nor  can  we  cut  out  any  part  of  his  philosophy 
and  improve  it. 

'"We  all  depend,  more  or  less,  upon  the  public  for 
our  support.  We  all  trade  with  the  public— lawyers, 
doctors,  shoemakers,  artists,  blacksmiths,  showmen, 
opera-singers,   railroad  presidents,   and   college   pro- 


« 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      457 

fessors.  Those  who  deal  with  the  public  must  be 
careful  that  their  goods  are  valuable;  that  they  are 
genuine  and  will  give  satisfaction.  When  you  get 
an  article  that  you  know  is  going  to  please  your 
customers,  and  that  when  they  have  tried  it  they  will 
feel  that  they  have  got  their  money's  worth,  then  let 
the  fact  be  known  that  you  have  got  it.  Be  careful 
to  advertise  it  in  some  shape  or  other,  because  it  is 
evident  that  if  a  man  has  ever  so  good  an  article 
for  sale,  and  nobody  knows  it,  it  will  bring  him  no 
return.  In  a  country  like  this,  where  nearly  every- 
body reads,  and  where  newspapers  are  issued  and 
circulated  in  editions  of  five  thousand  to  two  hundred 
thousand,  it  would  be  very  unwise  if  this  channel 
was  not  taken  advantage  of  to  reach  the  public  in 
advertising.  A  newspaper  goes  into  the  family  and 
is  read  by  wife  and  children  as  well  as  the  head  of 
the  house;  hence  hundreds  and  thousands  of  people 
may  read  your  advertisement  while  you  are  attend- 
ing to  your  routine  business.  Many,  perhaps,  read 
it  while  you  are  asleep.  The  whole  philosophy  of 
life  is,  first  sow,  then  reap.  That  is  the  way  the 
farmer  does.  He  plants  his  potatoes  and  com  and 
sows  his  grain  and  then  goes  about  something  else, 
and  the  time  comes  when  he  reaps.  But  he  never 
reaps  first  and  sows  afterward.  This  principle  ap- 
plies to  all  kinds  of  business,  and  to  nothing  more 
eminently  than  to  advertising.  If  a  man  has  a  genuine 
article,  there  is  no  way  in  which  he  can  reap  more 
advantageously  than  by  sowing  to  the  pubHc  in  this 
way.  He  must,  of  course,  have  a  really  good  article 
and  one  which  will  please  his  customers.  Anything 
spurious  will  not  succeed  permanently,  because  the 
public  is  wiser  than  many  imagine.    Men  and  women 


I' 


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758      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

are  selfish,  and  we  all  prefer  purchasing  where  we 
can  get  the  most  for  our  money;  and  we  try  to  find 
out  where  we  can  most  surely  do  so.  You  may  ad- 
vertise a  spurious  article  and  induce  many  people 
to  call  and  buy  it  once,  but  they  will  denounce  you 
as  an  impostor  and  swindler  and  your  business  will 
gradually  die  out  and  leave  you  poor.  This  is  right. 
Few  people  can  safely  depend  upon  chance  custom. 
You  all  need  to  have  your  customers  return.' 

"Having  now  made  a  preliminary  attempt  to  resur- 
rect Phineas  Taylor  Bamum,  I  suggest  that  the  ad- 
vertising clubs  of  the  worid  lay  aside  the  modern 
books  on  advertising  written  by  men  who  never  suc- 
ceeded in  business  and  take  up  the  study  of  Bamum, 
who  was  a  colossal  business  success  and  whose  knowl- 
edge of  advertising  touched  bottom.     No  one  will 
ever  know  the  essentials  of  advertising  until  he  reads 
the  life  of  this  phenomenally  brilliant  man  from  Coii- 
necticut,  who  was  the  welcome  guest  and  friend  of 
presidents,   kings,   emperors,   sultans,   and  czars,   as 
well  as  of  the  common  people  of  the  farm  and  the 
town.     His  intellect  reached  out  and  swept  eveiy 
channel  of  human  endeavor.    He  is  best  known  as  a 
showman,   but   in   all   essentials   and   characteristics 
he  was  perhaps  the  greatest   all-round  commercial 
genius  that  this  country  ever  produced.    He  is  to  be 
measured,  not  by  the  exact  total  of  dollars  he  accu- 
mulated, but  by  the  expanse  of  his  imagination  and 
by  the  creative  powers  of  his  mind." 


LXVII 

Superiority  of  the  Newspaper  as  an  Advertising  Medium. 

— Thomas  E,  Dockrell 


Under  the  heading,  "The  Greatest  Sales  Force — 
The  Newspaper,"  Dockrell,  in  an  article  in  Advertising 
and  Sellings  for  November,  19 10,  produced  a  gem  of 
brilliancy  which  should  be  treasured  by  all  advertising 
men,  as  follows: 

"Among  the  oldest  memories  I  have  are  of  the  days 
when  my  father  took  me  for  long  walks  on  Sundays, 
the  last  parts  of  which  were  often  spent  riding  picka- 
back on  his  broad  shoulders,  in  the  twilight;  and  the 
interesting  stories  he  told  me  on  those  walks.  They 
were  interesting  stories — of  fight  and  courage,  of  hu- 
man nature;  never  fairy  tales,  just  plain  stories  of 
business. 

"At  that  time  my  father  was  building  a  business 
which  is  to-day  one  of  the  largest  of  its  kind,  but  in 
those  days  it  wasn't  the  largest,  it  was  small,  and 
fighting  its  way  to  the  top  of  the  heap.  The  stories 
were  of  why  this  employee  was  winning,  or  that  one 
was  failing;  how  one  department  was  being  nursed 
along,  how  another  had  brought  off  a  big  coup,  and 
how  each  department  and  each  man  fitted  into  the 
whole.    But  the  stories  were  to  me  as  full  of  courage 


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460     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

and  fight  and  vivid  interest  as  any  Indian  tale  or 

titanic  struggle.  1     .  ,    ^i. 

"I  suppose  I  never  will  know  how  valuable  these 
walks  and  talks  were  in  teaching  me  to  love  business 
and  all  its  ramifications  as  a  chess-player  loves  chess, 
a  chemist  his  laboratory,  or  a  doctor  his  cherished 

cases* 

"To  this  good  fortune  was  added  that  of  always 
being  thrown  into  contact  with  heads  of  businesses, 
and  having  the  opportunity  all  my  Hfe  of  watching 
the  wheels  go  round.    This  intimacy  with  the  mside 
machinery  developed  a  habit  of  dissatisfaction  with 
a  mere  superficial  view  of  the  machine.     I  always 
wanted  to  see  the  inside  works.     When  I  was  only 
a  youngster  and  ill-health  demanded  that  I  live  iti  a 
warmer  climate,  I  went  to  South  Africa,  provicied 
with  introductions  which  were  responsible  for  tre- 
mendously valuable  experience.     I  can  look  back  to 
a  couple  of  dinners  in  Cape  Town,  seated  opposite 
Barney  Bamato,  of  Kimberley  diamond  fame,  as  he 
told  the  youngster  just  out  from  home  how  he  should 
conduct  himself  in  order  to  find  success.     Another 
never-to-be-forgotten  evening  was  when  the  powerful 
introduction  I  bore  brought  me  a  long  interview  at 
Groot  Sehuur  with  Cecil  Rhodes.     I  spent  over  i:wo 
hours  on  the  veranda  Hstening  to  the  kindly  advice 
of  the  great  South  African  empire-maker. 

"Since  then  I  have  met  many  a  great  mmd,  and, 
looking  back,  see  that  one  of  the  concomitants  of 
the  big  man  is  the  habit  of  straight  thinking,  past 
superficialities  down  to  fundamentals,  a  clear  reach- 
ing through  to  underlying  causes;  a  constant,  habit- 
ual, analyzing  attitude;  an  ability  to  see  not  the 
whole   but  the  sum  of  all  its  details,  and  m  imagi- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      461 

nation  to  marshal  widely  separate  facts  and  vividly 
visualize  them  into  a  whole. 

"There  is  no  better  method  of  mental  conduct  than 
that  of  conforming  to  the  practice  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful individual  or  principle,  and  constantly  search- 
ing for  the  laws  that  always  accompany  cause  and 

effect. 

'  'A  man  manufactures  something.  The  best  method 
of  selling  it  is  to  sell  it  himself.  The  next  best  method 
is  to  have  a  good  man  sell  it  for  him.  The  next 
best  method  is  to  write  to  somebody  who  he  knows 
is  interested.  The  next  best  method  is  to  use  a  news- 
paper. After,  but  not  until  after  he  has  exhausted  the 
possibilities  of  the  newspaper,  there  are  many  other 
media  he  can  use  with  profit. 

"If  we  seek  the  most  profitable  medium  for  reach- 
ing a  majority  of  people  in  any  one  locality  we  must 
guide  ourselves  by  the  experience  of  some  business 
which  has  been  compelled  to  appeal  to  the  majority 
of  people  in  one  locality,  and  learn  by  its  experience. 

"In  any  locality  in  the  United  States  the  depart- 
ment store  appeals  to  a  majority  of  the  people,  and  in 
order  to  reach  the  majority  of  the  people  uses  the 
daily  newspaper  practically  to  the  exclusion  of  any 
other  method.  The  department  store  also  uses  the 
newspaper  to  a  greater  extent  than  does  any  other 
advertiser.  It  is,  therefore,  absolutely  apparent  that 
the  experience  of  the  department  store  has  been  that 
the  newspaper  largely  used  is  the  best  method  of 
reaching  the  majority  of  people  in  any  one  locaHty. 

"We  still,  however,  have  to  find  out  whether  the 
department  store  is  modem,  progressive,  and  highly 
successful.  If  it  is,  we  have  practically  found  an 
ideally  successful  business,  which  has  learned  from 


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462      BUILDING   NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

its  experience  the  ideal  medium  for  reaching  the 
majority  of  people  in  any  one  locality. 

*' Since  every  man  knows  that  the  department  store 
is  a  branch  of  merchandizing  which  has  developed 
more  rapidly  than  any  other  direct  method  within 
the  last  ten  years,  the  law  is  practically  established 
that  a  business  to  be  ideally  successful  in  reaching  a 
majority  of  people  in  any  one  locaHty  must  use  the 
daily  newspaper  largely. 

"Having  established  by  one  proof,  although  there 
are  many  others,  the  necessity  of  the  use  of  the  daily 
newspaper  in  any  one  locality  in  order  successfully 
to  reach  the  majority  of  the  people,  it  would  seem 
that  we  would  have  established  its  supremacy  in 
dealing  with  all  localities.     Certainly. 

"'Then,*  you  ask,  *why  do  national  advertisers 
endeavoring  to  cover  all  localities  use  any  other 
medium  before  they  have  exhausted  the  possibihties 
of  newspapers?'     There  are  many  reasons. 

"Among  them  are  inexact  knowledge  of  underlying 
advertising  principles  by  the  advertiser;  inability  or 
disinclination  of  newspapers  to  put  their  proper 
claims  before  the  advertiser;  competition  or  other 
media  which,  while  not  so  effective  for  the  adver- 
tiser, put  before  him  apparently  very  strong  argu- 
ments for  their  use;  lack  of  true  co-operation  of  tlie 
agent  with  the  advertiser. 

"Let  us  examine  these  causes  which  befog  the 
advertising  business. 

"The  main  reason  for  the  lack  of  straight  thinking 
on  advertising  by  the  average  advertiser  is  psychologi- 
cal. He  has  been  trained  to  think  of  advertising  as 
something  apart  from  his  business.  He  has  be<3n 
told  that  it  is  something  that  cannot  be  handled  by 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      463 

business  men.  He  has  seen  advertising  handled  by 
men  outside  of  business — an  alien  race  to  commerce — 
a  race  of  men  peddling  what  to  him  seemed  dreams, 
and  which  he  yet  realized  were  actualities  when  used 
by  other  business  men.  Not  thoroughly  understand- 
ing advertising,  he  handed  it  over  to  a  man  outside 
his  organization.  In  most  cases,  once  he  allowed  his 
advertising  to  be  handled  by  an  organization  apart 
from  his  business,  he  grew  to  consider  advertising 
itself  as  being  apart,  something  alien  and  foreign,  a 
magic  force  which,  working  entirely  apart  from  the 
business,  would  have  wonderfully  beneficial  results. 

"From  this  mental  attitude  of  the  advertiser  of  al- 
lowing himself  to  lose  touch,  his  business  has  also  lost 
touch  with  the  real  fundamentals  of  advertising. 

"Successful  advertising  cannot  be  handled  apart 
from  the  business. 

"  An  agency  which,  although  its  system  of  remuner- 
ation is  wrong,  still  stands  high  in  its  ideals  and  efforts, 
shows  that  it  realizes  the  point  just  mentioned.  In 
a  recent  advertisement  it  says,  'We  don't  know  how 
to  define  "  advertising  service  "  other  than  to  say  that 
it  is  so  closely  akin  to  salesmanship  that  it  begins 
with  the  conception  of  the  thing  to  be  advertised, 
and  goes  step  by  step  along  its  course  of  manufacture, 
through  the  dealer  to  the  consumer." 

"Advertising  must  be  interlaced,  interwoven,  bound 
up  with  every  activity  of  the  business,  and  the  busi- 
ness in  turn  must  be  permeated  and  saturated  with 
the  advertising.  Advertising  can  do  nothing  with- 
out the  business  behihd  it.  You  can  have  a  business 
without  advertising,  but  not  advertising  without  a 
business.  Therefore,  the  business  is  the  more  im- 
portant.    Advertising  cannot  precede  a  business  at 


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464      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

a  distance,  but  it  may  lead  it  by  the  hand.  Adver- 
tising, to  be  successful,  must  be  affected  by  and  bas;ed 
upon  every  other  department  of  business,  raw  ma- 
terial, finished  product,  credits,  sales  department, 
shipping,  local  conditions,  competition,  timeliness, 
and  in  fact  every  activity  which  is  present  in  mer- 
chandizing. 

**To  reach  the  people  in  any  one  town  in  the  United 
States  a  man  must  use  a  newspaper.  In  every  tovm, 
large  or  small,  you  find  the  retailer  using  the  new^s- 
paper  with  which  to  build  his  business.  He  uses  the 
amount  of  space  which  brings  him  the  maximum  of 
profit  with  the  minimum  of  waste.  What  is  good  in 
any  town  must  obviously  be  good  for  all  towns. 
And  yet,  the  newspapers  carry  but  a  small  fraction 
of  the  advertising  to  which  they  are  entitled. 

"Why? 

"Because  the  advertiser  does  not  realize  theimpc^r- 
tance  to  each  community  of  its  daily  newspaper.  If 
somebody  had  told  him  that  the  paper  he  read  circ:u- 
lated  every  day  in  every  town  and  hamlet  in  the  United 
States,  you  couldn't  have  got  him  to  use  any  other 
medium  with  a  battle-ax.  But  they  didn't  tell  it  to 
him.  It  was  the  absolute,  unshaken  truth,  but  the 
newspapers  didn't  know  how  to  put  it  up  to  him.  The 
same  newspaper  that  any  one  man  reads  in  any  one 
town,  in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  is  read  every 
day  by  nearly  every  literate  adult  in  every  other  to^vn 
and  hamlet.  But  the  newspapers  didn't  tell  it  ttiat 
way.  Because  every  daily  newspaper  has  a  differ- 
ent name,  that  doesn't  change  the  underlying  fact 
that  every  worth-while  literate  adult  in  the  United 
States  reads  the  same  daily  newspaper.  The  name 
may  be  different,  but  the  daily  newspaper  that  he 


I 


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4 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      465 

picks  out  for  his  information  on  everything  that  goes 
on  in  the  world  around  him  is  the  same  newspaper 
that  every  other  man  reads. 

"What  does  the  name  matter?  What  does  the  city 
matter?  You,  whose  eyes  glance  at  this  page,  read 
a  daily  newspaper,  a  pubHcation  pubHshed  every  day, 
upon  which  you  rely  to  keep  you  informed  of  all  that 
makes  life  worth  living. 

"Practically  every  other  man  in  the  United  States 
does  the  same  thing.  He  reads  his  daily  newspaper, 
the  paper  that  every  day  brings  him  the  news  that 
makes  life  worth  living.  'Oh,  it  has  a  different  name,' 
you  say;  'it's  pubHshed  in  a  different  city.*  What 
does  that  matter?  To  the  men  who  read  it  it  brings 
not  only  the  news  of  the  world,  but  the  news  of  their 
neighbors,  of  themselves,  of  their  town,  their  com- 
munity, their  street,  often  of  the  very  house  they 
live  in. 

"The  man  who  lives  in  New  York  and  reads  the 
evening  Globe  goes  to  Philadelphia,  misses  The  Globe 
and  is  offered  The  Bulletin.  He  thinks  it's  a  different 
paper.  It  is  not.  To  the  man  in  Philadelphia  The 
Bulletin  is  what  The  Globe  is  to  the  New-Yorker.  It's 
his  evening  paper.  Same  thing  to  the  man  in  Buffalo. 
The  Buffalo  Evening  News  is  the  same  evening  paper 
to  the  Buffalonian  as  The  Bulletin  is  to  the  Phila- 
delphian  or  The  Globe  to  the  New-Yorker.  The  same 
thing  applies  to  every  other  city.  It  doesn't  matter 
what  is  the  name  of  the  paper  in  any  city,  it's  the 
paper  that  the  man  who  buys  it  picks  out  in  order  to 
make  him  a  human  being.  A  paper  must  appeal  to 
its  readers,  or  it  couldn't  be  pubHshed,  and  a  reader 
must  consider  a  paper  his  paper  or  he  wouldn't  buy  it. 

"There  is  the  point.     Advertisers  have  been  led 


fl™' 


i    ,i 


^iii 


I 


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466      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

astray  through  inability  to  see  clear  through  to  thisi 
fundamental.  The  great  advertisers  saw  it.  The; 
greatest  advertisers  that  ever  were  saw  it.  The  men 
who  ran  patent  medicines  certainly  knew  advertising. 
They  used  the  papers  and  made  millions.  I  once; 
placed  advertising  for  one  firm  with  four  thousand! 
papers.  *  Different  papers?'  you  ask.  Not  on  your 
life!  The  same  paper.  Because  each  one  was  the 
paper  to  each  of  its  readers,  and,  consequently,  all 
taken  together  were  the  paper  that  everybody  read. 
"The  department  stores  know  it.  They've  got 
every  locality  by  the  throat  in  volume  of  business. 
And  yet  they're  the  largest  users  in  the  world  of  dail>^ 
newspaper  space.  The  volume  of  business  done  b>' 
all  the  department  stores  in  America  compared  to 
the  volume  of  business  done  by  any  other  industr>^ 
is  almost  incredible,  and  it  is  bound  like  a  Siames(i 
twin  to  the  daily  newspaper  in  every  locality  in  the 

country. 

*'Mr.  Thomas  Balmer,  whose  advertising  experi- 
ence 'needs  no  bush,'  recently  wrote,  *I  say  it  ad- 
visedly and  with  conviction,  that  more  than  60  per 
cent,  of  advertisers  nowadays  are  failures — many  of 
them  doomed  before  they  begin.  It  is  time  we  based 
our  efforts  in  advertising  along  the  Hnes  of  demon- 
strated experience  and  facts.' 

"Why  did  not  the  advertiser  see  this?  Because  he 
let  somebody  else  do  his  thinking  for  him.  And  be- 
cause he  was  blinded  by  the  false  gods  of  pretty 
typography  and  appeal  to  his  vanity.  Other  minds, 
thinking  for  him,  showed  him  'a  false  vision  and 
divination  and  a  thing  of  naught  and  the  deceit  of 
their  heart.'  The  advertiser  wanted  to  reach  out 
all  over  America,  and  said,  'Give  me  something  that 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     467 

goes  all  over  America.'  They  gave  it  to  him  in 
mediums,  like  flies  on  a  window-pane,  whent  he  dew 
is  on  it  in  the  early  morning.  The  flies  are  bigger  m 
spots  because  they  loom  large  to  the  eye.  Four  or 
five  flies  seem  to  cover  the  pane.  The  dew  is  not  so 
noticeable,  because  each  separate  atom  is  tmy  and 
almost  invisible.  But  while  the  very  visible  fly  just 
covers  a  few  places  on  the  pane,  the  almost  mvisible 
dew  lies  so  thick  that  it  is  practically  a  part  of  it. 
The  advertiser  for  a  moment  thought,  'I  wish  my 
own  paper  went  everywhere.'  He  was  told  it  didn't 
circulate  outside  his  own  city.  He  was  told  half  a 
truth  but  all  a  lie.  It  did  circulate.  Every  man's 
newspaper  circulates  everywhere,  circulates  every- 
where men  and  women  read.  Only  the  name  is 
different;  the  influence  and  grip  are  everywhere  the 
same,  but  the  advertiser  didn't  know  it.  ^     .  .' 

"A  few  advertisers  said,  'We  want  to  use  the  daily 
newspaper.'  But  they  were  told  it  would  cost  too 
much  to  use  all  the  newspapers.  That's  true,  per- 
fectly true,  if  the  advertiser  wasn't  ready  for  them. 
But  this  is  what  he  could  have  done : 

"He  could  have  said  to  each  retailer  in  a  town  who 
held  his  goods,  'I'm  going  to  back  you  with  adver- 
tising—real advertising— advertising  in  the  medium 
you  rely  on  to  build  your  own  business.  I  will  adver- 
tise in  the  newspapers  that  are  read  in  your  com- 
munity, your  town,  your  ward,  your  street,  and  in 
your  own  house.'  And  then  the  advertiser  could 
have  done  the  same  thing  in  other  towns.  Instead 
of  scattering  his  energy  all  over  the  United  States, 
whether  or  not  he  had  distribution  and  used  the 
medium  that  would  have  built  real  sales.  What  mat- 
ter if  he  had  only  money  enough  to  cover  one  state 


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468      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

with  newspapers  ?  Provided  he  got  more  business  out  of 
it,  and  more  profit,  one  state  was  better  for  him  than 
the  whole  country.  Then  he  could  use  his  profits  to 
go  on  to  another  state. 

"The  total  amount  of  dollars  a  man  spends  in  ad- 
vertising does  not  matter.  The  aim  of  every  advcT- 
tiser  is  to  make  every  dollar  pay  a  profit,  and  the 
minute  he  gets  every  dollar  working  at  a  profit  his 
constant  prayer  is  to  put  more  of  those  profit  dollars 
at  work.  The  minute  a  man  finds  an  investment 
making  a  profit  he'll  keep  on  investing.  The  aim  of 
the  advertiser  is  to  spend  $10,000,000  a  year  in  ad- 
vertising, provided  the  last  $5  of  the  $10,000,000  will 
bring  him  as  big  a  profit  as  the  first.  Localization, 
specialization,  analysis,  consideration  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  unit  will  squeeze  the  hot  air  out  of  the 
whole  proposition. 

"Advertising  has  been  handled  by  a  class  of  shrewd, 
keen  men,  men  who  ran  their  business  as  progressively 
as  any  other  business.  Men  who  realized  that  in 
order  to  keep  their  profits  up  they  must  keep  the;ir 
expenses  down,  and  very  soon  realized  that  it  ccst 
them  far  less  to  place  advertising  with  a  few  geneial 
publicity  mediums  than  with  one  hundred  newspapers, 
and  that  their  use  didn't  require  any  knowledge  of  the 
sales  statistics  of  the  business,  statistics  the  average 
agent  doesn't  know,  and  couldn't  handle  if  he  did 
know.  Imagine  what  it  would  cost  him  if  he  had  to 
put  the  caliber  of  man  required  to  deal  with  statistics 
on  to  every  account  he  handled.  Look  at  the  time 
and  money  it  would  cost  to  find  out  local  conditions. 
No,  sir!  The  agent  kept  at  the  thing  that  cost  t]ie 
least  to  handle.  But  the  newspaper's  coming  into 
its  own.     It  is  a  demonstrable  fact,  and  the  adver- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      469 

tiser  sees  it  for  himself  the  very  moment  it  is  put 
before  him,  that  the  medium  that  allows  him  to  suit 
his  appeal  to  each  locality,  the  medium  people^  must 
read  if  they  are  going  to  be  human  beings,  is  the 
medium  to  use  to  get  close  to  the  people. 

"As  the  advertiser  gives  his  own  attention  more 
closely  to  advertising,  he  will  rapidly  eliminate  a  lot 
of  the  present  waste  and  loose  thinking.  The  trouble 
is  that  the  advertiser  has  been  letting  other  people 
have  too  free  a  hand  in  the  spending  of  his  own 

dollars.  ^     .     ^  ,. 

"That  shrewd  old  thinker,  Decimus  Junius  Juvenahs, 

gave  a  man  a  hint  on  this  subject  nearly  two  thousand 
years  ago.  The  friend  was  complaining  of  a  breach  of 
trust  through  which  he  had  suffered,  and  Juvenal  asked 
him,  'Nescis  quas  habeatVeneres  aliena  pecuniaV  which, 
freely  translated,  is,  'Dost  thou  not  know  the  charm 
there  is  in  spending  money  that  isn't  your  own?' 

"The  cost  system  that  has  been  so  successful  m 
helping  every  other  department  of  business  is  begin- 
ning to  be  appHed  to  advertising,  and  it  is  hurting 
the  scattered  medium.     Hand  in  hand  with  the  cost 
system  go  localization  and  consideration  of  the  unit, 
and  with  localization  and  consideration  of  the  unit 
comes  the  daily  newspaper.     I  get  hot  when  I  write 
on  this  question.     I've  seen  so  much  of  it  that  I 
want  to  know  why  any  man  merchandizing  through 
retailers  ever  got  away  from  the  use  of  the  daily 
newspapers.     I    talk    to    business    men,    small    and 
large,  every  day  of  my  life,  and  every  time  a  manu- 
facturer picks  up  his  sales  ledger  and  goes  through  it 
with  me  the  veins  in  his  neck  swell,  and  he  wants  to 
know  how  he  can  use  any  other  medium  than  the  news- 
paper with  its  intense  localized  selling  energy. 


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470      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

''It's  all  a  matter  of  straight  thinking.  The  new;^ 
paper's  beginning  to  get  the  business  now,  but  to  get 
it  more  rapidly  it  must  change  its  method  of  solici- 
tation a  great  deal,  stop  talking  only  circulation  and 
give  reasons  why  it  is  a  localized  selHng  force.  ]:t 
will  come  more  nearly  right  in  the  end,  but,  in  the 
mean  time,  it's  hard  on  a  lot  of  advertisers,  who 
could  be  making  great  profits  with  newspaper  cam- 
paigns based  on  the  varying  sales  statistics  of  differ- 
ent localities." 


1 


LXVIII 

The  Time  Element  in  Advertising.— J .  F.  Jacobs 

Speaking  of  the  subject  of  "The  Time  Element  in 
Advertising,"  J.  F.  Jacobs,  of  Jacobs  &  Co.,  Clinton, 
S.  C,  in  an  address  before  the  Lynchburg,  Virginia, 
Advertising  Club,  on  September  14,  191 5,  presented 
an  argument  which  must  find  a  place  in  this  book, 
as  follows: 

"I  am  an  enthusiast  on  advertising  as  a  science. 
I  beUeve  that  the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when 
the  natural  laws  of  advertising  will  be  accurately 
defined  as  a  science. 

"Two  hundred  years  ago  there  was  no  such  thing 
as  the  science  of  economics.  To-day  the  study  of 
that  science  has  its  place  in  every  well-regulated  col- 
lege the  world  over.  A  thousand  years  ago  there  was 
no  such  thing  as  the  science  of  astronomy.  A  false 
astrology  prevented  its  development.  There  was  also 
no  such  thing  as  the  science  of  chemistry,  a  false 
science  of  alchemy  taking  its  place.  And  just  as  the 
modem  sciences  of  chemistry,  astronomy,  and  econom- 
ics have  emegred  from  the  ignorance  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  so  in  coming  years  will  the  new  science  of  ad- 
vertising, worked  out  in  the  experience  of  thoughtful 
men,  be  recognized  as  a  real  science,  and  the  under-* 


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472      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

lying  principles  upon  which  successful  advertising  is 
based  will  be  taught  and  recognized  universally. 

"I  invite  you  this  evening  to  the  thoughtful  con- 
sideration of  one  of  these  underlying  principles — The 
Time  Element  in  Advertising.  A  proper  recognition 
of  this  principle  may  be  expected  to  conduce  to  more 
successful  advertising.  Ignoring  the  principles  invites 
disaster  in  advertising  expenditure. 


THE   IMPATIENT  ADVERTISER 

"There  are  not  a  few  advertisers  who,  on  contracting 
for  advertising  space  and  putting  out  their  advertis- 
ing copy,  expect  immediate  results  commensurate  with 
the  contemplated  outlay.  Others  expect  the  results 
to  have  been  attained  by  the  time  the  invoices  are 
rendered  for  the  advertising.  In  other  words,  many 
advertisers  are  impatient  of  results,  feeling  that  when 
they  lay  down  a  bank-note  upon  the  counter  they 
should  receive  the  value  of  the  bank-note  in  goods. 
They  purchase  so  much  advertising  space,  and  ex- 
pect that  space  to  immediately  produce  sufficient  to 
pay  them  back  what  they  spend  plus  a  profit.  This 
expectation  is  seldom  met  by  any  type  of  advertising. 
The  proposition  advertised  may  be  a  thoroughly  mer- 
chantable one.  The  media  selected  may  be  the  very 
best  for  the  purpose.  The  advertising  copy  may  be 
convincing,  interesting,  and  effective;  the  illustrations 
may  be  attractive  and  illuminating;  the  execution  of 
the  advertising  may  be  as  nearly  perfect  as  human 
affairs  will  permit,  and  yet  the  results  on  the  com- 
pletion of  a  given  advertising  order  may  not  be  com- 
mensurate with  the  expenditure.  In  such  case  many 
advertisers — I  might  say  the  majority  of  advertisers 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     473 

—are  seized  with  disappointment,  condemn  the 
media  and  copy,  become  discouraged,  and  immedi- 
ately declare  that  advertising  does  not  pay  in  their 
business,  or  that  the  copy  or  media  used  were  worth- 
less. I  have  known  this  to  occur  many  times  in  an 
advertising  experience  of  the  last  seventeen  years, 
and  in  a  large  percentage  of  those  cases  I  have  known 
the  conclusion  to  be  an  incorrect  one,  and  the  disap- 
pointment unjustified  by  the  facts  in  the  case. 

''The  reason  for  this  disappointment  is  lack  of  rec- 
ognition of  the  fact  that  the  time  element  in  getting 
advertising  results  is  just  as  essential  as  the  mtel- 
lectual  element  or  the  money  element. 

SUCCESS   TAKES   TIME 

"Permit  me  to  announce  the  principle  in  a  formal 
statement.  Successful  advertising  involves  lapse  of 
time  as  well  as  investment  of  money  and  apphcation  of 
thought.  In  other  words,  you  may  have  a  thoroughly 
merchantable  proposition  and  apply  the  best  of  bram 
in  promoting  it.  You  may  invest  a  reasonable  sum 
of  money  in  financing  the  promotion,  but  you  must 
also  be  ready  to  wait  for  the  results. 

"This  statement  might  be  accepted  by  every  one, 
but  at  once  the  question  arises,  'How  long  must  we 
wait?'  And  on  that  question  there  is  a  wide  diver- 
gence of  opinion  due  to  lack  of  appreciation  of  the 
process  of  the  propagation  of  information  through 
publicity.  It  is  essential  that  we  understand  the  proc- 
ess in  order  that  we  may  reasonably  estimate  the 
lapse  of  time  necessary  before  a  conclusion  can  be 
reached  as  to  the  effectiveness  or  inefficiency  of  an 
advertising  campaign.  


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474     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

THE   MENTAL 'PROCESS   OF   THE   READER 

"Now,  in  order  to  produce  results  in  advertising, 
assuming  that  you  have  a  thoroughly  merchantable 
proposition — one  which,  when  understood,  is  recog- 
nized as  attractive — and  assuming  that  your  copy 
attractively  presents  the  proposition,  and  assuming 
that  you  have  spread  that  copy  through  the  proper 
media  before  the  class  of  people  who  would  normally 
be  customers  for  the  proposition,  you  must  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  it  is  necessary,  first,  to  get  the  at- 
tention of  the  reader  before  you  can  get  results. 

"The  Parable  of  the  Sower  teaches  us  that  when 
grain  is  scattered  upon  the  field  some  of  it  falls  among 
thorns;  some  of  it  is  eaten  by  the  birds  of  the  air; 
some  of  it  falls  on  stony  ground,  and  hence  quite  a 
proportion  of  the  seed  is  unproductive. 

*  *  This  is  the  case  with  advertising.  It  is  not  possible 
to  secure  the  attention  of  every  reader  of  the  publi- 
cations used.  Very  few  readers  begin  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  publication  and  read  to  the  end,  including 
reading  matter  and  advertising.  Popular  reading  is 
usually  done  in  a  selective  manner.  One  reads  what 
one  wishes  to  read  and  skips  what  one  wishes  to  skip, 
and  the  material  skipped  is  always,  or  usually,  much 
more  considerable  than  the  material  which  is  read. 
Consequently  a  large  percentage  of  the  readers  of 
any  given  publication  or  line  of  publications  do  not 
at  first  see  your  advertisement;  that  is,  their  atten- 
tion is  not  attracted  to  it.  The  smaller  the  adver- 
tisement the  larger  the  number  of  people  who  are 
less  likely  to  see  it  at  the  outset,  but  the  more  you 
repeat  the  advertisement  the  larger  the  percentage 
of  the  readers  who  are  Hkely  eventually  to  see  it  and 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      475 

read  it.  If  you  wish  quick  results  it  follows  that  large 
copy  should  be  used.  If  you  are  wilHng  to  be  very 
patient,  and  you  wish  to  be  very  economical,  it  follows 
that  you  may  use  very  small  copy,  provided  only 
that  it  is  large  enough  to  carry  fully  a  statement  of 
your  proposition;  but  in  that  event  you  must  be 
more  patient  in  waiting  for  the  results,  and  must  be 
more  persistent  in  the  repetition  of  your  copy. 

INITIAL   SALES 

"The  first  prime  idea,  then,  is  that  a  large  percentage 
of  the  people  are  inattentive  to  any  proposition  ad- 
vertised anywhere,  and  that  their  attention  must  be 
secured  before  they  can  be  induced  to  become  cus- 
tomers. Hence,  at  the  outset  of  any  advertising 
campaign  relatively  but  few  people  read  the  adver- 
tising; fewer  still  are  convinced  by  it,  and  enthused 
by  it  to  the  point  of  purchase,  but  those  few  represent 
the  vitaUty  of  the  advertising  campaign.  They 
purchase  the  goods.  If  the  goods  are  deserving  of  ad- 
vertising they  will  please  the  customers,  and  pleased 
customers  propagate  advertising,  so  that  while  you 
might  reach  a  million  readers  with  your  advertising 
campaign  and  interest  and  sell  only  a  few  dozen  of 
them  at  the  outset,  that  few  dozen  is  increased  pro- 
portionately in  subsequent  advertising,  and  if  the 
advertising  is  persistent  the  initial  purchasers  be- 
come more  and  more  numerous.  However,  it  is 
seldom  the  case  that  initial  purchasers  buy  suffi- 
ciently in  their  initial  purchases  to  justify  the  ad- 
vertising expenditure. 

"We  must  look  beyond  the  first  purchases  by  the 
first  purchasers  in  order  to  secure  sufficient  results  to 


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476      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

justify  the  advertising  appropriation,  and  here  comes 
the  necessity  of  recognizing  the  time  element. 

"Let  us  return  to  the  Parable  of  the  Sower.  When 
the  sower  went  forth  to  sow,  he  did  not  go  forth  the 
next  day  to  reap.  He  waited  for  days  and  weeks 
and  months  before  his  crop  was  ready.  Then  he 
went  out  and  harvested  it.  He  did  not  harvest  a 
crop  from  the  seed  which  fell  upon  stony  ground,  or 
among  thorns,  or  the  seed  which  were  eaten  by  the 
birds  of  the  air.  His  crop  resulted  only  from  the 
seed  which  germinated,  and  reproduced,  some  thirty- 
fold,  some  sixtyfold,  some  a  hundredfold.  That  seed 
when  garnered  was  in  the  next  season  resown  and 
multiplied  itself  again,  and  in  the  third  season  re- 
sown  again,  and  multiplied  itself  again.  The  result, 
of  course,  is  not  an  arithmetical,  but  a  geometrical 
development  of  results. 

"The  case  is  paralleled  in  an  intelligently  directed, 
persistent  advertising  campaign.  The  initial  cus- 
tomers buy,  but  buy  lightly,  and  they  are  few  and 
far  between.  They  recommend  the  goods,  how- 
ever, to  their  friends.  They  are  enthusiastic  over 
their  purchases.  They  boast  of  their  bargains  of 
quality  or  price.  The  consequence  is  that  other 
buyers  are  induced  on  their  recommendation  to  make 
purchases.  They  in  turn  are  pleased,  and  they  also 
recommend  other  buyers  to  buy,  so  that  each  pleased 
customer  becomes  a  walking  advertisement  of  the 
proposition,  spreading  the  news  of  the  quality  of  the 
proposition  far  and  wide. 

#H0W   THEY   GROW 

"Each  initial  purchaser  might  be  regarded  as  a  sort 
of  inoculation  of  the  community  in  which  he  Hves 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      477 

with  the  virus  of  the  proposition,  that  inoculation  re- 
sulting in  the  spread  of  trade  just  as  inoculation  with 
a  virus  results  in  the  spread  of  germs  throughout  the 
body,  and  the  propagation  of  millions  of  other  dis- 
ease germs  of  the  same  type.  Moreover,  pleased 
customers  when  they  find  themselves  pleased  with 
a  purchase  are  likely  to  repeat  their  business  year 
after  year,  or  from   time   to   time,   as   their   needs 

occur. 

"The  advertiser  then  has  three  sources  of  income 
from  his  advertising:  first,  the  initial  sales  of  initial 
purchasers.  This  is  a  small  source  of  income.  Sec- 
ond, repeat  sales  from  time  to  time  from  initial  cus- 
tomers, which  is  a  much  larger  source  of  income,  and 
third,  first  purchases  and  repeat  purchases  from  peo- 
ple to  whom  the  proposition  has  been  recommended 
by  other  purchasers.  We  will  call  these  sales  col- 
lateral sales,  and  this  constitutes  the  big  crop  of 
results  from  the  advertising. 

"In  order  to  secure  collateral  sales  in  large  quantity 
it  is,  of  course,  necessary,  first,  for  the  advertising  to 
be  printed,  to  be  read,  to  interest  the  reader,  to  result 
in  initial  purchases.  It  is  further  necessary  for  the 
goods  to  be  delivered,  to  be  used,  to  please  the  cus- 
tomer, and  then  for  sufficient  time  to  elapse  for  that 
customer  to  advise  his  friends  and  relatives  that  he 
was  pleased.  That  advice  may  be  repeated  through 
years  and  years,  to  scores  of  individuals,  who  in  turn 
become  purchasers  and  repeaters. 

"The  impatient  advertiser  is  not  willing  to  await 
results  in  the  way  of  collateral  sales,  nor  even  willing 
to  await  results  in  the  way  of  repeat  orders  from 
initial  customers.  He  expects  a  flood  of  orders  from 
every  reader  of  his  advertisement,  and  assumes  that 


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478      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

every  reader  of  a  publication  necessarily  is  a  reader 
of  his  advertisement.     Hence  the  disappointment. 


AN   ILLUSTRATION 

"Hasty,  impatient  advertisers  are  likely  to  give  up 
their  advertising  campaigns  and  get  very  little  out 
of  them.  They  are  likely  also  to  fail  to  attribut(j 
what  they  do  get  to  the  advertising  which  they  hav(i 
done.  To  illustrate :  Some  years  ago  a  metal  shinglei 
manufacturer  in  Ohio  placed  with  my  house  an  order 
for  something  over  $4,000  worth  of  advertising.  Thej 
copy  was  prepared,  designs  made,  electros  sent  oul: 
to  the  papers,  and  the  advertising  developed  up  to 
the  value  of  about  $2,000.  Invoices  were  rendered 
for  the  first  and  second  months,  and  when  the  ad- 
vertiser received  the  second  month's  invoice  he  or- 
dered the  advertising  canceled,  saying  that  his  in- 
quiries were  costing  him  about  $8  each,  and  that  h(j 
had  only  sold  $500  worth  of  goods,  while  the  adver- 
tising invoices  amounted  to  $2,000.  I  wrote  him, 
pointing  out  the  fact  that  he  had  only  waited  two 
months  for  results,  that  he  had  not  given  sufficient 
time  for  the  advertising  to  bring  results,  that  his 
inquiry  cost  would  no  doubt  be  reduced  from  $8  to 
something  like  $6;  that  $6  was  not  a  high  price  to 
pay  for  inquiries  on  a  proportion  where  the  sales 
would  probably  average  in  excess  of  $100  per  sale, 
and  where  the  percentage  of  sales  to  inquiries  would 
probably  be  at  least  one  out  of  two,  and  where  th(5 
repeat  orders  would  likely  come  in  from  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  initial  buyers.  However,  my  cus- 
tomer insisted  that  the  advertising  was  no  good, 
that  he  had  lost  a  lot  of  money,  and  didn't  care  to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      479 

lose  any  more.  Sixty  days  later  I  asked  him  for 
information  as  to  the  cost  per  inquiry,  number  of 
inquiries  and  quantity  of  sales.  He  replied  that  the 
sales  were  over  $2,000,  and  his  inquiry  cost  was  down 
to  approximately  $6  per  inquiry.  Six  months  later 
one  of  our  salesmen  called  on  this  advertiser,  and 
was  told  that  his  factory  was  working  overtime,  and 
was  sold  beyond  capacity,  that  the  only  advertising 
he  had  done  was  the  $2,000  worth  of  advertising  done 
on  the  contract  given  to  us;  that  he  was  much  pleased 
with  the  advertising;  many  dealers  in  the  South  had 
stocked  the  line;  sales  were  magnificent,  and  that 
he  never  expected  to  advertise  with  any  one  else; 
and  would  begin  advertising  again  when  he  could 
get  his  factory  enlarged  so  as  to  produce  more 
goods. 

''Thus,  within  eight  months  from  the  time  when  the 
advertiser  thought  his  advertising  campaign  a  com- 
plete failure  his  point  of  view  was  changed  to  the 
theory  that  it  was  a  magnificent  success.  That  par- 
ticular advertiser  was  most  fortunate.  There  are 
not  so  many  who  can  get  results  so  rapidly  as  he  did. 

ANOTHER   ILLUSTRATION 

"I  have  in  mind  another  advertiser— a  mineral-water 
proposition  in  South  Carolina.  The  advertiser  was 
persistent.  He  was  determined  to  popularize  his 
proposition.  He  guaranteed  the  quality  of  the  water, 
money  back  if  not  satisfied.  He  had  never  sold  a 
drop  of  water  until  he  placed  an  account  with  us, 
an  expenditure  of  $600.  The  results  came  in  quite 
slowly,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  combined  re- 
sult of  the  advertising  and  the  sales  effort  of  the 


t 


\ 


I 


480      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

owner  of  the  spring  was  a  total  of  only  about  $3,000 
of  sales.  On  the  face  of  it  the  campaign  was  not  a 
success,  if  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  one  year's 
experience,  where  a  large  part  of  the  sales  had  been 
made  by  the  personal  efforts  of  the  owner  of  the 
spring;  sufficient  time  had  not  elapsed  for  the  water 
to  become  popular  in  the  area  in  which  it  was  adver- 
tised. The  second  year  he  spent  with  us  $3,000. 
His  sales  exceeded  in  the  second  year  $20,000.  The 
third  year  he  spent  over  $6,000,  and  his  sales  were 
$102,000. 

''Now  the  first  year  a  large  percentage  of  the  mail- 
order sales  were  initial  purchases,  carrying  the  keys 
shown  in  the  advertisements,  and  hence  identified 
as  initial  purchases.  These  buyers,  however,  repeated 
their  order  from  time  to  time.  The  second  year  the 
traceable  keyed  business  was  much  smaller  in  ratio 
to  the  total  business,  and  the  third  year  the  ratio  was 
twelve  to  one;  that  is,  twelve  times  as  much  repeat 
business  and  collateral  sales  as  initial  business.  This 
year  it  is  anticipated  that  the  total  sales  will  exceed 
a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  on  an  advertising  ap- 
propriation of  something  over  $12,000,  and  it  is  likely 
that  the  percentage  of  repeat  business  and  collateral 
business  will  be  even  larger  in  proportion  to  the 
initial  keyed  mail-order  sales,  for  as  the  expenditure 
of  advertising  increases  the  territory  has  to  be  widened, 
the  express  rates  are  higher,  and  greater  handicaps 
therefore  apply  on  getting  business,  so  that  the  ad- 
vertising cannot  be  expected  to  be  as  effective  ini- 
tially, though  fully  justified  by  the  magnificent  re- 
sults in  repeat  and  collateral  business. 

**I  might  give  you  scores  of  other  illustrations  of 
like  character  where  results  are  at  first  disappointing, 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      481 

but  later  increase  in  volume  and  eventually  swell 
into  such  proportions  as  to  make  magnificent  successes. 


PSYCHOLOGICAL   EFFECT   OF   ADVERTISING 

"But  the  point  which  I  wish  to  accentuate  is  that 
the  advertiser  should  be  patient,  as  patient  as  a  suc- 
cessful fisherman.     A  fidgety  fisherman  catches  but 
few  fish.     It  takes  patience;  it  takes  long  waiting 
to  get  the  right  results,  and  persistent  advertising, 
in  order  to  build  the  biggest  results.    For  every  time 
you  reach  a  reader  with  an  advertisement  about  your 
proposition  you  add  something  to  the  conviction  which 
that  reader  already  perhaps  possesses  from  having 
read  other  advertisements  in  previous  issues  of  his 
paper.     The  more  often  he  sees  your  advertisement 
the  more  he  comes  to  have  confidence  in  your  propo- 
sition.    Indeed,  you  may  take  any  proposition,  even 
a  falsehood,  and  if  it  is  repeated  sufficiently  often 
you  will  find  not  a  few  people  who  will  not  come  to 
believe  it  simply  because  it  is  a  reiteration.    The  state- 
ment of  a  truth  may  be  at  first  advanced.    The  repe- 
tition of  the  statement  adds  strength  to  it,  and  a 
reiteration  of  the  statement  over  and  over  again  grad- 
ually accumulates  conviction.     It  is  on  this  principle 
that  the  imperative  in  advertising  copy  is  effective. 
You  tell  the  public  to  do  a  certain  thing,  a  simple 
imperative;    for   instance,   'Drink  Coca-Cola,'  only 
two  words,  but  repeat  it  millions  of  times.    Have  the 
public  read  it  over  and  over,  and  over  again.    Event- 
ually, without  any  good  reason  for  drinking  Coca- 
Cola  other  than  that  they  are  told  to  drink  Coca- 
Cola,  people  will  begin  to  try  it.    If  they  like  it  they 
will  repeat.    If  they  continue  to  repeat  they  may  be- 


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482     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

come  perhaps  extensive  users  of  the  drink.  Or,  take 
another  illustration:  You  walk  up  to  a  soft-drink 
counter.  Your  friend  asks  you  what  you  will  have. 
There  are  scores  of  soft  drinks  from  which  you  may 
select.  You  have  been  reading  Welch's  Grape  Juice 
advertising.  You  have  no  particular  favorite  drink. 
You  have  seen  the  Welch's  Grape  Juice  advertisement 
time  and  time  again,  so  much  so  that  it  has  impressed 
itself  upon  you,  and  you  are  carrying  it  in  memory 
without  really  reaHzing  it.  Your  subconscious  mem- 
ory comes  to  your  assistance  and  you  say,  *Give  me 
Welch's  Grape  Juice.'  It  is  because  you  have  seen 
the  advertising  repeated  time  and  again.  The  itera- 
tion and  reiteration  made  you  call  for  Welch's  Grape 
Juice  rather  than  somebody  else's  grape  juice,  or 
rather  than  merely  ask  for  grape  juice. 

PERSISTENCE    AN   ABSOLUTE    ESSENTIAL 

"Persistency  in  advertising,  the  iteration  and  re- 
iteration of  your  proposition,  gradually  interests 
more  and  more  of  the  possible  customers  in  your 
field  of  operation,  and  the  more  customers  you 
secure,  if  they  are  pleased,  the  more  they  repeat  the 
news  of  their  satisfaction  to  others,  lead  others  to 
adopt  your  position  and  use  it.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  business  is  propagated.  Every  one  recognizes 
the  necessity  of  brain  in  business  propaganda.  Every 
one  recognizes  the  necessity  of  money  in  business 
propaganda,  but  every  one  should  also  recognize  the 
necessity  of  time  in  business  propaganda,  before 
checking  up  for  results,  and  it  is  that  point  which  I 
wish  to  accentuate  before  your  club,  because  so  many 
really  successful  campaigns  are  quashed  in  their  in- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      483 

fancy  through  the  impatience  of  the  advertiser,  and 
through  lack  of  recognition  of  the  fact  that  it  takes 
time  to  make  an  advertising  crop,  just  as  it  takes 
time  to  get  a  crop  of  pecans  from  a  pecan  grove,  or 
a  crop  of  oranges  or  grape  fruit  from  a  citrus  fruit  or- 
chard. Not  so  long,  perhaps,  as  it  takes  for  securing 
results  in  nut  growing  or  citrus  fruit  growing,  but 
nevertheless  it  takes  a  considerable  period,  on  some 
propositions  perhaps  six  months;  on  most  proposi- 
tions, where  the  goods  move  through  second  hands, 
from  a  year  to  two  or  three  years.  Indeed,  to  put  a 
proposition  on  a  fine  financial  basis,  making  it  a 
big  dividend  payer,  I  should  say  that  the  advertiser 
ought  always  be  willing  to  wait  three  years  for  his 
maximum  results,  or,  in  other  words,  dividend-paying 
results,  for  maximum  results  are  never  reached  until 
a  line  of  trade  is  monopolized. 

"I  have  had  the  opportunity  in  the  last  seventeen 
years  to  analyze  thousands  of  advertising  experiences. 
Many  of  them  were  remarkable  successes  and  so 
recognized  by  the  advertisers.  A  considerable  per- 
centage, however,  were  superb  successes,  not  recog- 
nized by  the  advertisers,  and  not  a  few  of  those  be- 
came failures  simply  through  the  impatience  of  the 
advertiser  and  his  unwillingness  to  back  the  prop- 
osition to  a  productive  basis,  his  unwillingness  to 
recognize  the  fact  that  it  takes  time  to  grow  a  crop, 
and  that  it  takes  time  to  propagate  information  about 
any  proposition,  commercial  or  otherwise. 

"Have  you  not  frequently  observed  that  a  candi- 
date runs  for  ofiice,  is  defeated,  runs  again,  securing  a 
larger  vote,  but  is  defeated,  and,  running  a  third 
time,  wins  out?  I  have  observed  this  to  occur  in 
scores  of  instances.    The  persistent  candidate  almost 


» 


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484      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

always  wins.  Why?  Simply  because  he  is  persistent. 
He  recognizes  the  time  element  in  advertising.  He 
knows  that  his  friends,  once  having  voted  for  him, 
are  likely  to  repeat  their  vote,  and  are  likely  to  in- 
fluence more  and  more  people  to  vote  for  him  as  he 
repeats  his  candidacy.  The  advertiser  is  a  candidate 
for  trade.  If  he  fails  to  be  elected  the  first  year 
and  runs  again  the  second  year  he  will  get  a  larger 
volume  of  trade.  If  he  runs  the  third  year  he  is 
likely  to  be  elected.  In  other  words,  is  likely  to  get 
results  fully  commensurate  with  and  more  than 
commensurate  with  his  total  expenditure.  After 
that  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  keep  on  spending  and  keep' 
on  receiving  much  more  than  is  spent. 

"If  I  can  impress  upon  the  advertisers,  present  and, 
to  come,  in  your  club  this  important  basic  condition 
of  successful  advertising,  I  feel  that  I  have  brought 
you  a  message  worthy  of  being  remembered  and  one; 
which  will  be  of  value  to  you  in  all  of  your  advertising; 
experience." 


LXIX 

Efficient  Newspaper  Advertising. — Herbert  Casson 

Under  the  heading,  "Efficient  Newspaper  Adver- 
tising," Herbert  N.  Casson  contributed  a  really 
notable  article  to  Newspaper dom  of  December  12, 
191 2,  the  major  part  of  which  I  reproduce: 

"After  many  years  of  being  lost  in  the  bushes,  the 
daily  papers  are  now  finding  the  straight,  broad 
road  of  advertising  efficiency.  For  the  past  five  or 
six  years  at  least,  in  the  higher  grade  daily  papers, 
there  have  been  many  advertisements  that  are  just 
as  efficient  and  just  as  effective  in  every  way  as  any 
of  the  ads.  in  the  national  magazines. 

"The  fact  is  that  good  and  skilful  advertising  began 
about  fifteen  years  ago  in  the  monthly  magazines. 
The  magazines  were  first  to  weed  out  the  trash. 
They  were  first  to  have  a  sense  of  responsibility  for 
what  they  printed.  They  were  first  to  protect  the 
public  from  dishonest  advertising.  They  were  first 
to  shut  their  doors  on  patent  medicines,  whiskies, 
and  real-estate  explosions. 

"Through  the  statesmanship  of  several  very  com- 
petent magazine  proprietors,  advertising  became 
clean,  responsible,  and  efficient.  It  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  asset  instead  of  an  expense  and  a  nui- 


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486      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

sance.  It  became  a  business-builder,  and  achieved 
so  much  national  respect  that  to-day  no  manufacturer 
can  hope  to  be  nationally  successful  without  the 
assistance  of  advertising. 

"So,  the  credit  for  the  development  of  advertising 
may  be  properly  divided  up  to  the  present  time  be- 
tween the  newspapers  and  the  magazines.  The  news- 
papers came  first.  They  proved  that  any  kind  of 
advertising  was  better  than  none.  Then  came  the; 
magazines.  They  have  proved  in  the  past  fifteen 
years  that  the  better  and  cleaner  advertising  is  the 
greater  are  the  results. 

"But  the  time  has  now  come,  I  believe,  for  a  third 
great  step.  The  magazines  will  lose  their  present 
commanding  position.  The  newspapers  will  now  be- 
gin to  clean  up  and  become  responsible  for  their  ad- 
vertisements. They  will  find,  as  some  have  alread}^ 
done,  that  for  every  disreputable  ad.  they  have  th(i 
nerve  to  reject  other  ads.  will  come — ads.  that  anj 
decent  and  beneficial  to  the  community. 

"More  and  more  we  are  moving  into  an  age  of 
speed  and  specialties.  Here  is  where  the  newspaper 
comes  in.  It  is  the  fastest  of  all  mediums.  It 
strikes  thirty  times  to  the  magazine's  once;  and 
each  newspaper  strikes  its  own  people  in  its  own 
special  community. 

"The  recent  improvements  in  newspaper  presses,  the 
invention  of  new  methods,  and  the  betterments  of 
paper  stock,  all  these  have  prepared  the  larger  and 
more  progressive  newspaper  for  a  forward  step  in  ths 
march  of  advertising. 

"At  the  present  time  there  is  no  one  man  or  no 
one  newspaper  that  can  claim  to  be  a  national  author- 
ity on  efficient  newspaper  advertising.     No  one  has 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      487 

worked  out  the  problem  as  to  exactly  what  a  news- 
paper advertisement  ought  to  be.  There  has  been 
discussion,  and  plenty  of  it.  Every  ad.  club  in  the 
United  States  is  expressing  opinions  and  giving  ex- 
periences concerning  newspaper  advertising. 

"But  as  yet  there  has  been  no  exhaustive  study  of 
the  proposition.  No  one  has  taken  ten  thousand 
newspaper  ads.  and  classified  them.  No  one  has 
made  a  two  years'  study  of  results,  except  perhaps 
from  his  own  personal  point  of  view.  Practically  all 
the  data  that  we  have  at  the  present  time  is  of  a 
purely  personal  or  local  character. 

"In  the  first  place,  it  is  plain  that  an  ad.  in  a  news- 
paper should  not  be  built  on  the  same  lines  as  an 
ad.  in  a  magazine.  As  the  magazine  men  have  taught 
us  to  say,  'A  magazine  ad.  lives  for  a  month,  while 
a  newspaper  ad.  lives  only  for  a  day.'  A  magazine 
carries  a  large  amount  of  waste-basket  insurance. 
It  is  not  apt  to  be  thrown  away.  Its  readers  are  apt 
to  have  more  leisure  and  to  be  in  a  more  receptive 
frame  of  mind. 

"A  magazine  ad.  is  bound  in  the  same  cover  with 
the  best  of  reading  matter.  Accompanying  it  are 
articles  and  illustrations,  which  represent  the  top- 
most pinnacle  of  skill  on  the  part  of  both  writer  and 
artist.  All  this,  of  course,  adds  greatly  to  the  value 
and  to  the  prestige  of  the  advertisement  in  the 
magazine. 

"A  newspaper,  on  the  other  hand,  is  read  with  less 
leisure  but  more  interest.  It  is  a  less  perfected  but 
much  more  urgent  and  intense  publication.  People 
may  read  magazines,  but  they  must  read  newspapers. 
The  newspaper,  by  its  very  nature,  suggests  immediate 
action.     It  is  vivid,  stimulating,  electrical.     It  does 


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488      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

not  give  us  articles  and  essays  and  works  of  art.  It 
gives  us  the  quick  and  dramatic  news  of  the  day. 

"A  newspaper,  and  nothing  but  a  newspaper,  csm 
awaken  a  local  community  to  quick  action.  Nothing 
else  besides  a  newspaper  can  strike  the  iron  of  public 
interest  while  it  is  hot. 

"In  short,  I  think  we  may  fairly  say  that  magazine 
advertising  is  best  for  education  and  national  prestige, 
while  newspaper  advertising  is  best  for  local  follow-up 
work  and  for  making  the  actual  sales.  There  is,  of 
course,  no  conflict,  and  there  never  should  be  any  dis- 
pute between  magazines  and  newspapers  so  far  as 
advertising  is  concerned.  Each  does  its  own  work 
in  its  own  way.  Each  does  its  work  differently ;  and 
each  will  be  used  for  advertising  purposes  as  long  as 
business  lasts. 

"In  making  a  few  suggestions  as  to  what  an  efficient 
newspaper  ad.  ought  to  be,  I  would  say: 

"First,  it  ought,  above  everything  else,  to  be  con- 
spicuous. Suppose  a  man  takes  twenty  minutes  to 
read  his  morning  paper,  and  suppose  the  paper  has 
twenty  pages.  He  has  only  one  minute  to  give  to 
each  page.  He  has  only  ten  seconds  to  give  to  a 
column.  He  has  only  one  second  to  give  to  a  three- 
inch  ad. 

"A  newspaper  ad.,  therefore,  must  not  be  on  a  basis 
of  minutes,  but  of  seconds.  It  must  tell  its  story  in 
a  space  of  two  or  three  heart-beats.  In  a  word,  a 
newspaper  ad.  must  be  a  glance  ad.  rather  than  an  ad. 
which  must  be  read  with  care  and  attention. 

"Also,  it  must  be  conspicuous  because  it  has  to 
compete  with  the  full-pages  of  the  department  stores. 
These  full-page  ads.  are  the  lords  of  the  newspaper. 
They  are  so  large  and  so  interesting  and  so  specific 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      489 

that  it  is  very  difficult  indeed  to  get  any  attention 
for  an  ad.  of  any  other  kind.  How  to  compete  with 
the  full-page  department  store  ad.  on  one  hand  and 
the  day's  news  on  the  other  hand — that  is  the  prob- 
lem which  we  have  to  solve. 

"To  compete  with  the  full-page  every  other  ad. 
must  be  conspicuous,  and  to  compete  with  the  news 
of  the  day  every  other  ad.  must  have  a  certain  amount 
of  news  value. 

"I  doubt  if  there  is  any  profit  whatever  in  adver- 
tising a  mere  trade-mark  or  the  same  old  set  of  words 
over  and  over  again  in  a  daily  paper.  A  newspaper 
is  not  a  billboard.  The  people  who  read  it  read  it  to 
get  the  news. 

"Whatever  else  a  newspaper  ad.  is,  it  ought  to  be 
fresh. 

"Nobody  buys  yesterday's  papers. 

"Nobody  lives  on  last  year's  breath. 

"Not  even  one  paper  a  day  will  satisfy  us  in  this 
impatient  age. 

"We  must  have  a  morning  paper  and  an  evening 
paper,  and  sometimes  two  or  three  'Extras'  in 
between. 

"If  we  naturally  resent  it  when  our  news  is  a  few 
hours  old,  do  we  not  also  instinctively  resent  it  when 
the  ads.  are  old  and  stale?  The  man  who  would 
increase  the  efficiency  of  his  newspaper  advertising 
must  pay  constant  attention  to  the  front  page  of  his 
paper.  He  must  watch  the  headlines.  He  must  keep 
in  touch  with  the  whole  swing  of  events.  He  must 
know  what  people  are  talking  about.  Then  he  must 
fit  his  ad.  to  the  news  of  the  day  and  swing  it  into 
efficiency  with  the  tide  of  public  opinion. 

"After  a  great  national  disaster,  for  instance,  the 


^H 


I 


490      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

man  who  jumps  into  the  daily  papers  with  an  ad- 
vertisement of  accident  insurance  is  sure  to  reap 
great  results.  After  a  great  fire  in  a  city  the  man  who 
comes  to  the  front  at  once  with  advertisements  of 
fireproof  apparatus  is  sure  to  win  success.  During 
cold  weather  the  public  is  in  the  right  humor  to  buy 
coal,  and  during  hot  weather  it  is  in  the  humor  to 
buy  ice-cream.  During  a  period  of  increasing  pros- 
perity almost  everybody  is  in  the  mood  to  buy  real 
estate,  and  during  a  period  of  panic  and  depression 
it  is  in  the  mood  to  buy  bonds  or  any  other  reliabl<3 
income-bearing  securities. 

"The  especial  value  of  a  newspaper  is  that  its 
readers  have  the  habit  of  looking  in  the  paper  to-day 
for  what  they  want  to  buy  to-morrow.  Whenever  th(3 
impulse  of  buying  seizes  them  there  is  always  a  news- 
paper on  the  spot;  and  thus,  while  a  newspaper  ad. 
can  never  be  as  beautiful  as  an  ad.  in  a  magazine,  it 
always  has  the  value  of  being  recent. 

"Generally  speaking,  men  buy  goods  because  their 
minds  have  been  impressed  recently  or  vividly  or 
often. 

"The  vivid  impression  is  more  likely  to  be  that  mad(5 
by  the  ad.  in  the  magazine.  But  the  recent  impression 
and  the  repetition  of  impressions  come  more  naturall}^ 
from  the  newspaper.  A  newspaper  is  not  the  besi: 
place  for  an  advertisement  of  sentiment.  An  ad.  of 
the  'heart-throb'  variety  is  not  likely  to  be  ver}'' 
effective  in  the  daily  paper.  Neither  will  an  ad. 
of  the  'art-gallery'  type  be  found  to  prevail  on  th(3 
poorly  printed  pages  of  the  daily.  Nothing  can  he 
more  forlorn  than  a  would-be  artistic  ad.,  which 
comes  out  in  the  paper  looking  like  the  splash  of  a 
shoebrush.     An   advertisement   that   is   designed   to 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     491 

give  prestige — an  advertisement  of  the  'dignity' 
species — ^always  looks  somewhat  out  of  place  in  the 
hurry-scurry  pages  of  the  newspapers.  In  fact,  all 
ads.  of  sentiment,  beauty,  and  dignity  are  placed 
much  more  fittingly  in  a  magazine  than  they  are  in 
a  daily  paper. 

"On  the  other  hand,  an  ad.  which  is  an  announce- 
ment, or  which  names  the  price,  or  which  is  an  inti- 
mate face-to-face  talk  about  the  goods,  is  much  more 
effective  in  a  newspaper  than  in  a  magazine.  There 
is  not,  and  there  never  can  be,  very  much  rank  and 
prestige  in  a  newspaper  ad.,  but  there  can  be  interest, 
efficiency,  and  force. 

"Picking  up  a  copy  of  The  New  York  Morning  World, 

I  notice  that  there  are  32   display  advertisements; 

II  of  these  have  the  name  of  the  firm  as  the  head- 
line; 5  of  them  have  as  the  headline  the  trade-mark 
name  of  the  article,  such  as  'Royal'  baking  powder; 
9  of  the  ads.  were  written  in  the  form  of  an  announce- 
ment to  the  public.  Out  of  the  32  ads.,  24  are  either 
conspicuous  or  have  a  certain  news  value,  while  8  are 
neither  newsy  nor  conspicuous.  Therefore  I  would 
say  that  the  display  ads.  in  this  copy  of  the  morning 
World  are  75  per  cent,  efficient,  which  is  certainly  an 
unusually  high  percentage.'* 


1^* 

I 


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tl 


LXX 

Selling  Costs. — J.  George  Frederick 

It  has  been  proved  that  advertising  reduces  the 
selling  cost  of  commodities  in  general  use  and  demand, 
and  that  an  effective  advertising  campaign  has  given 
many  concerns  doing  merely  an  ordinary  traffic  in 
an  article  a  national  and  international  market  many 
hundred  times  larger. 

The  following  by  J.  George  Frederick,  editor  of 
Advertising  and  Selling,  gives  some  definite  cases  re- 
garding the  cost  of  selling  worth  consideration  by 
students  of  advertising: 

"If  the  muckrakers  ever  stumble  on  to  the  facts 
about  the  selling  expense  of  some  concerns,  there 
will  be  a  series  of  sharp  literary  explosions. 

"There  is  a  manufacturing  concern  in  New  York 
whose  product  is  enjoying  an  international  market, 
and  is  regarded  as  having  achieved  success  in  eveiy 
way,  yet  its  selling  cost  is  still  five  times  its  manu- 
facturing cost! 

"Now  if  this  product  were  a  hixmy,  or  even  a 
specialty  novelty  as  yet  not  universally  used,  there 
would  conceivably  be  some  justification  for  this 
selling  cost ;  but  the  article  referred  to  is  a  typewritejr 
which  has  come  to  be  practically  a  staple. 

"There  is  another  highly  successful  typewriter  whose 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      493 

selling  cost  is  still  four  times  manufacturing  cost. 
There  are  several  other  very  successful  typewriters 
which  have  selHng  expense  down  to  three  times  cost 
of  manufacture,  which  may  be  regarded  as  fairly  nor- 
mal for  typewriters  or  any  well-known  semi-staple 
mechanical  device  where  repair  and  service  after  pur- 
chase are  additional  factors. 

"But,  gazing  generally  over  the  field  of  manufact- 
ure, selling  cost  in  a  surprising  number  of  cases  is 
excessively  high.  Only  in  the  most  staple  of  staple 
lines  does  it  come  down  to  a  more  sane  proposition. 
One  or  one  and  a  half  times  the  cost  of  manufacture 
is  a  general  average  for  selling  staples,  while  in  the 
drug  Hnes,  and  specialties  in  all  lines,  grocery,  textile, 
hardware,  etc.,  the  selling  cost  rises  to  four,  five,  and 
six  times  the  cost  of  manufacture.  Sometimes,  for 
some  articles  (and  not  all  of  them  like  Colonel  Sel- 
lers' Eyewash,  either),  the  cost  of  manufacture  is  a 
mere  nothing,  and  almost  the  only  expense  is  selling 
expense. 

"The  estimates  of  selling  expense  just  made  in- 
clude office  and  overhead  expense  and  everything  else 
chargeable  to  the  'selHng  end.'  To  examine  selling 
cost  in  single  detail,  let  us  take  purely  the  cost  of 
salesmen  and  sales  departments,  exclusive  of  what- 
ever else  might  be  chargeable  to  selling. 

"In  hosiery  and  underwear  lines  this  selling  ex- 
pense (frequently  the  only  kind  there  is)  runs  to  6 
and  10  per  cent,  of  net  return.  In  men's  clothing  it 
runs  from  4  to  7  per  cent.  In  office  equipment  lines 
it  runs  to  25  and  33  per  cent.,  and  in  drug  and  hard- 
ware lines  it  runs  up  from  25  to  40  and  60  per  cent, 
and  higher.  In  purely  luxury  hnes  selling  cost  has 
no  roof  at  all — ^it  is  as  expansive  as  the  empyrean  blue 


!l'^^ 


m 


I 


494      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

— ^according  to  the  article,  competition,  and  method 
of  distribution.  The  branch  agency  is  mighty  ex- 
pensive machinery  of  sales,  but  it  produces  volume 
and  keeps  sales  contact  with  consumers  keyed  up 
(things  which  are  vital  in  competition).  It  frequent- 
ly costs  $500  to  sell  an  auto,  and  the  average  is  $100 
to  sell  a  piano.  In  many  cases,  especially  in  th<3 
piano  business,  there  is  precious  little  profit  left  after 
this  high  selling  cost  is  expended. 

"This  matter  of  increasing  selling  cost  is  becoming 
more  and  more  vital  all  the  time,  because  of  two 
things,  the  widening  of  markets  and  the  growth  of 
competition.  The  bigger  a  manufacturing  concern 
becomes  the  greater  usually  does  the  selling  cost  be- 
come. This  may  seem  paradoxical,  but  public  ac- 
countants will  testify  to  its  almost  invariable  truth. 
A  selling  organization  adequate  to  the  territory,  th(i 
policies,  and  the  product  of  a  large  concern  increases 
selling  cost  considerably  over  that  of  a  smaller  manu- 
facturer, chiefly  because  the  large  manufacturer  needs 
more  executives  and  must  meet  competition  at  moni 
points.  He  has  more  baskets  of  eggs  to  be  watched 
than  the  small  manufacturer. 

"In  the  last  decade  or  two,  therefore — ever  since  th(j 
beginning  of  big  markets  and  big  enterprises — selling 
cost  has  been  rising  steadily  and  become  a  problem 
with  manufacturers.  Some  have  agreeably  deluded 
themselves  about  the  true  state  of  affairs  by  figuring 
loosely  that  reduction  of  cost  of  production  was 
'helping'  to  lessen  selling  cost.  But  inquisitiv(3 
modem  cost  accounting  turns  the  light  on  such  de- 
lusions for  those  manufacturers  (none  too  many)  who 
are  modern  enough  to  have  thorough  going  cost 
systems. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      495 

"The  one  significant  thing  about  selling  costs  is 
still  blindly  overlooked  by  many  manufacturers,  while, 
meantime,  those  keener  ones  who  do  understand  it, 
and  have  applied  it  long  ago,  are  the  big  gainers. 
Selling  cost  goes  down  in  proportion  to  the  reputation 
of  the  goods  and  the  favorable  conviction  in  the  mind 
of  the  buyer.  You  don't  have  to  work  nearly  so  hard 
to  sell  me  Baker's  chocolate  as  you  do  to  sell  me 
Jones's  chocolate.  Neither  do  you  have  to  work  so 
hard  to  sell  dealers  and  jobbers.  In  fact,  in  such 
exceptional  cases,  like  Baker's  and  a  few  others,  you 
could  shut  down  on  all  selling  expense  for  a  time  and 
make  a  lot  of  money  nevertheless." 


^    >l 


! 


LXXI 

Proclamation  and  Persuasion 
{From  ''The  London  Times,''  September  lo,  191 2) 

It  is  singular  how  little  is  known,  theoreticall}'' 
speaking,  of  what  one  may  call  the  commonest  of  all 
the  objects  by  the  wayside.  It  is  more  than  by  th(j 
wayside,  it  is  by  the  bedside,  on  the  breakfast  table, 
in  omnibuses,  in  trains,  and  by  the  railway  lines.  It 
waits  for  us  in  restaurants,  in  hotels,  and  in  theaters. 
It  follows  us  abroad  and  lives  in  our  books  at  home. 
It  shuns  not  altogether  either  the  cradle  or  the  grave. 
It  begs  us  to  borrow  money.  It  urges  us  to  bu}' 
everything  under  the  sun.  It  implores  us  to  accept, 
free,  medicines,  powders,  soaps,  and  every  sort  of 
household  necessary  or  food.  Whence  come  this 
shamelessness,  these  perpetual  intrusions,  this  ubiq- 
uity? What  is  their  moral  justification,  if  any? 
What  is  their  economic  explanation? 

These  questions  are  rather  hard  to  answer,  but  it 
is  peculiarly  within  the  province  of  a  newspaper  to 
solve  these  problems.  The  commodity  which  a  news- 
paper has  to  dispose  of,  by  which  it  lives,  is  the  most 
valuable  in  the  world — publicity.  This  commodit}^ 
it  dispenses  freely  and  for  no  consideration  what- 
ever in  its  news  columns.  It  has  the  power  to  set: 
generals,  politicians,  and  artists  on  pinnacles  of  sue- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      497 

cess  and  glory  by  holding  them  up  prominently  be- 
fore the  public  eye,  not  necessarily  favorably  in  all 
cases.  On  the  other  hand,  three  lines  in  the  paper 
may  cut  short  the  career  of  the  public  servant,  of 
the  society  leader,  or  even  of  the  humblest  individual 
having  pretensions  to  character  or  respectability. 
Now,  it  is  by  the  sale  of  the  same  commodity  for 
purposes  of  business  that  the  newspaper  acquires 
the  revenues  which  enable  it  to  bear  the  enormous 
costs  of  its  modem  news-collecting  system  and  of  the 
payment  of  its  skilled  staff.  Advertising  enables  the 
newspaper  proprietor  to  sell  for  threepence  or  a  penny 
what  it  has  cost  him  far  more  to  obtain.  In  return, 
all  he  requires  from  his  pampered  readers  is  the  mi- 
nutest fraction  of  their  attention  to  his  advertising 
columns.    They  have  been  paid  for  it  beforehand  in 

kind. 

The  elements  in  the  value  of  advertising  are  two, 
of  which  one  lies  in  the  reader  himself  or  the  on- 
looker, whichever  he  may  be;  the  other  is  embedded 
in  the  conditions  of  modem  industry.  The  stress 
and  hurry  of  modern  life,  the  increasing  calls  on  his 
time,  and  the  appeals  of  his  various  pleasures  are 
daily  raising  the  price  of  the  attention  of  the  ordinary 
individual.  It  is,  moreover,  not  only  the  mere  press- 
ure on  his  mind  of  his  amusements  and  his  occupa- 
tion which  have  increased  the  difficulty  of  approaching 
him;  but  the  man  in  the  street  has  lost  his  recep- 
tivity, he  is  warily  on  guard  against  his  own  impres- 
sions, and  he  has  schooled  himself  to  petty  harsh- 
ness and  frugalities.  Yet  the  silent  stmggle  goes  on. 
Sooner  or  later  he  must  spend  his  money,  and  gen- 
erally in  the  direction  of  those  who  have  wooed  him 
most  skilfully  and,  perhaps,   most  expensively.     In 


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498       BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

the  price  which  he  ultimately  pays  for  his  goods  or 
his  enjoyments  is  presented,  among  other  constituent 
costs  and  profits,  also  the  little  bill  for  advertising. 
So  it  is  the  pubHc  that  pays  for  all  in  the  end,  as  w«5 
might  expect. 

The  other,  and  even  more  important,  half  of  the 
question  lies  in  the  fact  that,  while  the  individual 
buyer  is  every  day  harder  to  approach,  the  conditions 
of  modem  industry  require  more  and  more  that  he 
shall  be  hustled  or  bullied  or  bounced  or  coaxed  into 
buying,  and  buying  quickly.    That  is  the  characteristic 
difference  between  the  advertising  of  ancient  days 
and  modem  advertising.    When  production  was  slo\^ 
and   costly,    the   seller   found   customers   eager   and 
waiting  for  his  goods  as  soon  as  they  were  finished. 
The  world  was  always  a  Httle  hungry  then.     Fe^v 
stomachs  were  entirely  filled.     Fasting  was  easier, 
and  repletion  a  less  common  sin.    This  cardinal  fact 
appHed  no  less  to  luxuries  than  to  necessaries.     The 
natural  consequence  was  that  advertising  never  found 
itself  obHged  to  go  beyond  the  proclamation  stages 
People  would  throng  to  Cheapside  to  buy  shoes  a.t 
the  sign  of  the  Golden  Lion,  because  they  had  heard 
when  they  were  young  that  John  Geddes  made  the 
best  shoes  at  a  reasonable  price,  and  it  was  known 
generally  that  his  sign  was  a  Golden  Lion.    Arrived 
at   the   Golden   Lion,   they  would  hear  from  John 
Geddes  that  nowadays  he  could  not  tum  out  shoejs 
fast  enough  for  the  people  who  came  to  him,  and 
that,  what  with  the  price  of  leather  and  his  failir.g 
eyesight  and  the  increasing  taxes,  he  could  not  afford 
to  ask  less  than  6d.  a  pair  more  than  his  old  prices. 
His  trade  and  connection  were  made  for  him  by  simple 
industry  and  honesty,  so  long  as  he  preserved  easy 


nil 


% 


.■"«? 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      499 

means  of  identification  by  remaining  on  the  same 
spot. 

John  Geddes  would  find  trade  different  in  the 
twentieth  century.  If  he  had  inherited  an  old  stand 
turned  into  a  new  and  luxurious  shop  from  earlier 
Geddes  ancestors,  together  with  a  goodly  supply  of 
Geddes  capital  wherewith  to  buy  large  stocks  and 
hold  them  against  the  market,  he  might  follow  the 
old  prescribed  routine.  But  there  are  very  few  mer- 
chants in  this  happy  position;  and  a  new  and  fresh 
John  Geddes  without  any  ancestors  behind  him  would 
not  be  able  to  sell  any  shoes  at  all,  except  at  current 
prices  fixed  by  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand.  The 
prices  he  would  find  would  be  so  low  that  he  could 
only  manufacture  them  by  buying  the  latest  machin- 
ery at  the  prices  required  by  the  Boston  trust.  The 
new  machinery  would  be  all  that  it  was  supposed  to 
be,  and  would  tum  out  shoes  at  500  times  the  pace 
that  the  old  John  Geddes  could  reach  at  his  best. 
The  simple  result  would  be  that  the  new  John  Geddes 
would  make  a  fortune  if  he  sold  all  his  shoes  in  good 
time,  and  would  be  ruined  if  he  did  not.  Between 
one  alternative  and  the  other  there  would  be  an  inter- 
val, which  nothing  but  good  selling  and  good  adver- 
tising would  bridge  over. 

That  speculative  interval  between  fortune  and  ruin 
is  growing  wider  and  wider  every  day;  and  the  sum 
of  money  which  it  represents  becomes  steadily  larger. 
It  is  the  fund  available  for  advertising  and  selling  in 
one  way  or  another.  In  the  United  Kingdom  at  the 
present  time  it  has  been  estimated  to  be  100,000,000 
pounds — about  25  per  cent,  greater  than  the  net  out- 
put of  the  iron,  steel,  shipbuilding,  and  engineering 
trades   in    this   country   together.     Central   Europe 


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500      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

would  spend  about  as  much.  Latin  Europe  and  Rus- 
sia would  also  do  the  same.  North  America  would 
probably  equal  all  Europe  together.  South  America 
and  Asia,  with  Africa  and  Australia,  would  amount 
each  to  a  unit  of  the  size  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
Let  us  take  the  whole  available  fund  for  advertisinj^ 
of  all  kinds  to  be  about  800,000,000  pounds  annually. 
Of  these  in  most  countries,  including  ours,  something 
less  than  one-half  goes  to  the  newspapers. 

It  is  the  paradox  of  modem  industry  that  produc- 
tion has  outstripped  demand.  All  the  markets  of  the 
world  are  glutted  with  goods  from  time  to  time,  and 
the  adjustment  of  the  rate  of  output  to  the  needs  of 
buyers  is  the  greatest  practical  problem  of  our  day. 
There  is  an  inherent  opposition  between  the  require- 
ments of  rapid  and  immense  production  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  cheapness  in  manufacturing  cost  and 
the  equally  urgent  necessity  of  putting  these  floods 
of  goods  on  the  market  as  slowly  as  possible  in  order 
to  maintain  prices.  Since  it  is  often  impossible  so 
to  arrange  production  and  marketing  as  to  get  rid  of 
this  fundamental  contradiction,  it  becomes  wortli 
while  to  spend  large  sums  of  money  in  order  to  hasten 
on  sales,  to  stimulate  demand,  and  to  rouse  desire:. 
The  modem  seller  can  seldom  afford  to  wait  for  his 
customers  to  come  to  him.  He  must  go  out  into  the 
highways  and  hedges  and  compel  them  to  come  in 
before  his  manufactured  stock  depreciates  and  is 
wasted,  or  before  the  bills  drawn  on  himself  by  his 
wholesale  house  become  due. 

The  business  of  modem  selling  is  carried  on  i:n 
three  ways.  The  first  and  oldest  is  the  plan  of  Hving 
within  the  circle  of  your  customers  and  establishing 
intimate   personal   relations   with   them.     It   is   the 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      501 

common  practice  of  many  old-fashioned  firms;  but 
the  circle  of  customers  controlled  in  this  way  is  gen- 
erally too  small  for  the  needs  of  modem  extended 
business.  The  second  is  to  set  out  to  solicit  your 
customer  by  means  of  trained  agents  and  canvassers 
— a  very  effective  way,  but  again  confining  trade  to 
a  small  number  of  transactions.  This  method  can  be 
made  to  pay  only  when  the  orders  are  valuable  enough 
to  stand  the  heavy  rate  of  commission  required  to 
reward  capable  agents;  for  the  business  of  seUing  is 
a  highly  skilled  one,  and  exacts  generous  remunera- 
tion. Since  in  the  greater  number  of  modem  busi- 
nesses the  tendency  is  to  seek  a  small  profit  on  an 
immense  number  of  transactions  rather  than  a  larger 
profit  on  a  restricted  business,  the  net  has  to  be 
spread  more  widely  and  an  appeal  has  to  be  made  to 
the  public  at  large  by  advertising. 

Advertising  embraces  two  distinct  processes,  proc- 
lamation and  persuasion.  The  first  is  the  older,  and 
consisted  merely  in  announcing  that  one  had  such 
and  such  goods  in  stock  or  was  prepared  to  offer  ser- 
vices for  a  specified  reward.  These  announcements 
in  modem  newspapers  and  periodicals  come  under  the 
head  of  classified  advertising.  In  every  paper  there 
are  special  headings  for  them,  to  guide  the  eye  of  the 
customer  who  is  looking  out  for  that  kind  of  service 
or  commodity.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  industrial  revo- 
lution, as  Arnold  Toynbee  called  it,  it  was  practically 
the  only  form  of  publicity  attempted  in  a  commercial 
sense.  There  were  perhaps  in  it  occasionally  the  germs 
of  persuasion,  yet  this  was  a  subordinate  element 
of  which  the  intention  was  not  fully  acknowledged. 
One  would  be  safe  in  putting  the  covering  dates  of 
this  period  of  change  as  occurring  between  the  Na- 


'i/' 


I 


III 


1 1 


T 


502      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

poleonic  and  the  Crimean  wars.  Until  the  end  of 
that  period  and  a  little  later  advertising  remained 
rather  in  an  embryo  state;  and  it  began  to  develo]) 
rapidly  about  the  time  that  the  tax  on  newspaper 
advertising  was  entirely  removed.  In  1832,  when  the 
tax  was  at  the  higher  rate  of  3s.  6d.,  the  amount  col- 
lected from  all  the  newspapers  in  the  Kingdom  was 
£170,650,  of  which  in  some  years  The  Times  alone 
contributed  as  much  as  £70,000.  After  the  reduction 
of  the  tax,  in  1833,  to  is.  6d.,  the  receipts  fell  to 
£131,000,  and  rose  again  in  1853,  the  year  of  the 
repeal,  to  £180,000. 

The  golden  age  of  newspaper  advertising  may  be 
said  to  have  begun  in  the  Victorian  sixties  in  this 
country,  and  in  America  after  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  early  days  the  ordi- 
nary devices  of  commercial  advertising  originated  in 
this  country  and  were  adopted,  carried  to  greater 
lengths  by  American  enterprise,  and  returned  to  us 
amplified  and  improved.  Until  very  recently  the 
bulk  of  newspaper  advertising  belonged  to  or  assumed 
the  form  of  the  proclamation  pure  and  simple.  This 
was  to  some  extent  due  to  the  extremely  conservative 
habits  and  regulations  of  the  newspaper  managers 
of  the  time — habits  which  undoubtedly  resulted  in 
considerable  injury  to  the  properties  they  controlled. 
At  a  time  when  the  public  was  accustomed  to  loolc 
chiefly  to  its  newspapers  for  general  advertising  the 
insistence  on  small  type  and  column  rules,  the  im- 
position of  an  antiquated  scale  of  charges  and  queer 
penalties  on  any  irregularity  of  insertion  succeeded 
ultimately  in  driving  away  to  a  wide  and  more  liberal 
field  the  natural  flood  of  advertising  which  could  not 
allow  itself  to  be  held  in  perpetual  shackles.     To 


-% 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      503 

this  desire  and  even  compulsion  to  escape  from  ham- 
pering restrictions  was  due  the  tendency  during  the 
last  twenty  years  of  the  last  century  toward  mere 
blatancy  which  at  the  time  was  so  offensive.  This 
blatancy  will  probably  prove  to  be  a  passing  phase 
due  to  temporary  tendencies  and  to  the  fact  that  all 
freedom  to  advertisers  was  at  first  denied  in  the  more 
reputable  and  dignified  channels  of  the  press.  It  is 
already  tending  to  decrease,  and  is  being  succeeded 
by  a  much  more  formidable  foe  to  our  pockets — the 
art  of  insidious  persuasion.  But  in  the  course  of  the 
change  many  a  valuable  newspaper  property  has 
been  severely  damaged  and  even  destroyed.  The 
wide  opportunities  found  by  advertisers  for  themselves 
in  the  cheaper  press  or  in  technical  publications  are 
now  to  some  extent  habits  stereotyped  in  both  ad- 
vertisers and  readers,  and  it  is  improbable  that  the 
old  monopoly  of  the  daily  press  which  once  existed 
in  this  country  will  ever  be  restored. 

Let  us  examine  a  little  more  closely  the  develop- 
ment of  advertising  from  proclamation  to  persuasion, 
remembering  always  that  all  advertising  must  con- 
tain some  elements  of  both,  and  that  of  persuasion 
there  are  many  forms.  Probably  the  first  discovery 
made  by  the  primitive  advertiser  was  that  proclama- 
tion repeated  sufficiently  often  itself  became  per- 
suasive. The  iterated  appeal  to  the  eye  stamps  its 
form  on  the  brain  without  any  special  connotation, 
and  in  the  absence  of  any  opposition  remains  there 
until  some  favorable  occasion  or  recollection  brings 
it  into  practical  association  with  the  wants  of  some 
individual.  Since  this  idea  of  mere  iteration  is  not 
at  all  an  obvious  one,  it  did  not  occur  to  many  people, 
and  it  was  thoroughly  exploited  by  a  few  pioneers, 


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504      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

who  made  often  immense  fortunes  if  the  goods  they 
were  offering  were  really  wanted  by  the  public,  and 
sometimes  even  when  this  was  not  the  case.  These 
early  advertisers,  having  each  his  own  field  largely 
to  himself,  did  not  trouble  to  couch  their  appeals 
to  the  public  in  any  but  the  crudest  of  forms  so  as 
to  reach  the  largest  number  of  customers.  The 
temporary  immunity  from  competition,  together  with 
the  effect  of  the  restrictions  mentioned  above  by 
conservative  institutions,  reinforced  the  tendency  to 
blatancy,  vulgarity,  and  mere  insistence.  But  this 
stage  to  some  extent  carried  its  own  corrective  ten- 
dency with  it.  Advertising  was  rightly  accused  of 
preposterous  vulgarity.  Vulgarity  to  many  minds  is 
synonymous  with  poor  quality  and  distasteful  pres- 
entation of  pleasure;  and,  although  the  popular 
classes  were  themselves  unconscious  of  the  presence  of 
vulgarity  in  advertising  and  would  not  probably  re- 
sent it  if  they  did  recognize  it,  these  habits  of  distaste 
and  criticism  descended  to  each  class  gradually  from 
the  class  above  it,  since  the  public  in  every  stratum  is 
nothing  if  not  imitative.  Such  a  critical  feeling  toward 
advertising  was  quickly  reinforced  by  competition. 

As  other  sellers  came  streaming  into  every  kind 
of  market,  and  there  were  numbers  of  advertisers 
offering  articles  of  the  same  kind,  the  public  began 
to  make  distinctions  and  draw  inferences.  One  of 
the  first  effects  of  this  improvement  was  that  vul- 
garity in  the  form  of  appeal  became  associated  with 
inferior  quality;  and  a  steady  amelioration  in  this 
direction  is  well  on  its  way.  Even  the  commonest 
articles — such  as  washing-soap,  beer,  patent  medi- 
cines, and  cheap  clothing — are  rapidly  improving  in 
this  respect.     The  poorest  classes  as  well,  who  have 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      505 

little  purchasing  power  as  individuals,  but  whose 
custom  is  so  important  owing  to  its  mass,  are  show- 
ing signs  of  requiring  a  similar  fastidiousness.  Al- 
though they  can  hardly  ever  afford  to  buy  commodities 
of  really  good  quality,  they  like  to  be  persuaded  that 
the  quality  which  they  can  afford  to  buy  is  really 
good,  and  generally  they  prefer  to  be  assured  that 
it  is  the  best. 

In  the  United  Kingdom  we  are  considerably  behind- 
hand still  in  the  prevailing  fashions  of  advertising  as 
compared  with  the  United  States  of  North  America 
or  even  with  Canada.  The  vulgar  appeal  carries 
more  weight  with  it  than  it  should  do.  An  easy  op- 
portunity of  judging  this  can  be  obtained  by  buying 
two  popular  sixpenny  magazines  of  each  country, 
which  are  on  sale  everywhere,  and  then  carefully 
comparing  the  method  of  appeal  in  each  case.  About 
twice  as  much  trouble  is  spent  in  preparing  the 
material  for  American  advertisements  as  is  the  case 
with  us.  An  English  advertiser  considers  that  the 
cost  of  buying  space  in  magazines  and  newspapers 
is  so  considerable  that  he  cannot  afford  to  spend 
more  money  in  getting  his  advertising  prepared 
for  him  by  an  expert.  The  American  will  argue 
differently;  having  spent  forty  or  fifty  dollars  in 
buying  expensive  space,  he  feels  he  cannot  afford  to 
waste  it  by  presenting  his  case  badly  to  the  public 
at  the  critical  moment;  otherwise  he  has  simply 
thrown  his  money  away.  There  can  be  no  kind  of 
doubt  that  the  American  point  of  view  in  this  matter 
is  right.  The  result  is  that,  while  three  times  the 
amount  of  money  is  spent  in  America  as  here,  prob- 
ably they  get  five  times  the  benefit  out  of  it  that  we 
do.     Many  public  men  and  the  King  himself  have 


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506      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

made  impassioned  appeals  to  this  country  to  rouse 
itself  and  prepare  for  a  severer  competition  in  the 
future  with  the  great  progressive  nations  in  the 
world.  Commercially  speaking,  there  is  no  direction 
in  which  vigorous  and  intelHgent  energy  is  more  re- 
quired than  in  this:  that  we  should  train  up  a  class 
of  intelHgent,  well-educated,  alert,  young  men  to 
spread  our  commerce  in  competition  with  the  strong 
corps  of  travelers  which  Germany  annually  sends 
out ;  and  that  we  should  learn  to  advertise  as  lavishly 
and  as  brilliantly  as  the  Americans. 

Let  us  take  one  concrete  example  of  good  advertis- 
ing and  analyze  its  elements  so  as  thoroughly  to  ex- 
tract their  meaning.  There  is  a  well-known  Ameri- 
can biscuit  manufacturer,  who  endeavors  every  day 
and  week  to  persuade  the  public  that  his  toasted 
corn-flakes  are  the  best  in  the  market.  Let  us  see  how 
he  uses  magazine  space  on  a  colored  cover.  In  the 
first  place  he  fulfils  the  primary  obligation  of  pro- 
claiming his  name  clearly  by  using  his  own  signa- 
ture, which  is  picturesquely  written,  as  a  trade-mark. 
By  an  iteration  which  is  innocent  of  annoyance,  he 
has  got  his  signature  stamped  on  the  mind  by  re- 
peating it  on  every  box  and  in  every  advertisement. 
In  the  advertisement  in  question  it  is  printed  con- 
spicuously in  red  with  a  white  line  around  it.  The 
secondary  requisite  is  the  presentation  in  the  pict- 
ure, clearly  but  not  too  large,  of  two  or  three  boxes 
of  his  biscuits  with  a  clever  colored  picture  of  a 
small  child  with  a  suitable  inscription  in  an  inclosed 
panel. 

Now  the  object  of  this  advertisement  is  to  present 
the  trade-mark,  describe  the  goods,  and  create  in  the 
ordinary  mind  a  pleasant  association  of  ideas.     It 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      507 

is  the  simplicity  of  the  scheme  which  makes  it  effective. 
Mere  praise  would  be  of  no  use.  Even  flattering  testi- 
monials have  fallen  into  disuse,  as  no  one  reads  them. 
Observe  also  that  all  artistic  effect  is  carefully  avoided. 
The  suggestion  of  pleasure  in  that  particular  way 
would  be  not  only  useless,  but  harmful,  as  it  would 
cause  pleasure  in  itself  and  not  in  association  with 
the  simple  idea  presented  by  the  advertisement. 
On  the  other  hand,  blatancy  or  any  unpleasant 
association  of  ideas  would  be  equally  deadly.  What 
is  wanted  for  this  class  of  appeal  is  a  pleasant  im- 
pression combined  with  a  suggestion  of  cleverness  of 
presentation,  which  insinuates  itself  into  the  unwary 
mind  and  bears  fruit  next  time  the  usual  stock  of 
biscuits  has  to  be  laid  in. 

We  are  entitled  to  hope  that  this  inoffensive  but 
acutely  persuasive  form  of  advertising  will  prevail  over 
and  destroy  the  usual  vulgar  and  obstreperous  meth- 
ods, which  have  been  unpleasantly  prominent  with  us 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years.  Of  these  the  most 
offensive — and  possibly  quite  incurable — form  is  the 
display  board  in  the  open  fields.  The  reason  why  this 
detestable  outrage  to  our  more  sensitive  feelings  is 
possibly  incurable  except  by  legislation  is  that  the 
opportunity  of  presentation  to  the  individual  trav- 
eling in  a  train  or  motor  is  so  momentary  that  noth- 
ing but  a  shocking  and  assaulting  appeal  to  his  eye 
and  attention  can  possibly  succeed  in  making  a 
lasting  impression  on  him.  The  writer  on  advertis- 
ing in  the  British  Encyclopedia  does  not  exaggerate 
the  offense  in  calling  it  a  violation  of  one's  mind  and 
attention;  and,  as  there  is  no  natural  remedy  for 
its  perpetration,  it  offers  a  clear  case  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country  to  step  in  and  tax  it  out  of 


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508      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

existence.  It  has  a  tendency  to  degrade  advertising 
of  all  kinds  and  to  keep  it  on  a  low  level.  The  pre- 
vailing and  mistaken  notion  that  all  advertising  is 
necessarily  vulgar  is  kept  alive  by  this  monstrous 
public  trespass  on  our  sensibilities. 

Another  widely  useful  form  of  persuasiveness  in 
advertising  is  the  educative  offer.  This  is  probably 
more  employed  in  the  engineering  trades  than  in 
any  other,  and  it  is  legitimate  and  highly  successful. 
For  this  there  is  a  very  good  reason.  The  chief  ob- 
jects offered  for  sale  in  engineering  papers  and  maga- 
zines are  machines  or  tools  for  specific  purposes;  and, 
as  the  buyer  will  only  buy  and  use  at  most  a  few 
machines  of  any  given  kind,  his  experience  of  any 
particular  type  of  machine  is  inferior  generally  to 
that  of  the  maker.  It  is  a  case  of  the  reversal  of 
Aristotle's  maxim  that  the  best  judge  of  cooking  is 
not  the  cook,  but  the  eater.  Any  one  trying  to  sell 
a  machine-toll  will  be  the  most  successful  if  he  can 
persuade  the  prospective  buyer,  not  only  that  he  can 
sell  an  article  which  will  save  money  to  the  other 
in  the  cost  of  manufacturing  his  product,  but  that  he 
has  in  addition  a  fund  of  experience  in  cheapening 
manufacture  in  this  particular  way,  which  he  can 
impart  to  any  one  who  buys  his  machine-toll.  Such 
a  suggestion  and  such  a  claim  must  be,  as  the  Ameri- 
cans say,  ''made  good";  and,  as  this  class  of  goods 
is  bought  only  by  the  most  highly  skilled  and  trained 
experts  in  the  world,  it  has  to  be  and  generally  is,  or 
the  seller  goes  out  of  business.  In  these  circum- 
stances it  is  a  striking  testimony  to  the  real  value  of 
advertising  that  such  an  enormous  amount  of  money 
should  be  profitably  spent  as  is  the  case  in  the  en- 
gineering trades.     Here  we  have  a  group  of  skilled 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      509 

and  alert  buyers,  eager  and  anxious  to  spend  money 
in  every  possible  way  to  reduce  the  costs  of  manu- 
facture and  to  find  the  Dest  metnods  of  doing  so. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  it  would  seem  to  be  unnecessary 
to  waste  money  in  showing  off  one's  goods,  in  explain- 
ing new  methods,  in  doing  the  other  man's  work  for 
him.  Yet  it  is  precisely  here  and  in  these  circum- 
stances that  the  largest  appropriations  are  set  aside 
for  advertising  and  the  largest  revenues  are  earned 
by  technical  journals.  It  would  startle  some  of  the 
advertising  managers  of  big  daily  papers  in  this 
country  if  they  knew  the  gross  advertising  revenues 
of  the  weekly  engineering  papers  in  America,  here, 
and  to  a  lesser  extent  in  Germany. 

The  plain  truth  is  that  a  heavy  expenditure  in 
advertising  is  not,  as  the  Socialists  pretend,  a  disease 
of  an  old  and  effete  world,  a  plain  waste  of  good 
money,  but  a  new  method  of  progress,  which  is  far 
from  its  full  stature  of  development.  As  the  world 
expands  and  industry  becomes  more  complicated, 
production  advances  by  leaps  and  strides  and  leaves 
exchange  behind  it.  It  has  now  become  more  difficult 
and  expensive  to  sell  things  than  to  make  them.  So 
we  find  capital  turning  more  and  more  to  develop 
its  selling  and  marketing  agencies,  and  looking  every- 
where for  the  most  efficient  methods  of  bringing  to- 
gether manufactured  commodities  and  those  who  de- 
sire them.  We  have  a  further  paradox  that  the 
cheapest  way  of  selling  one's  goods  is  to  spend  large 
sums  in  doing  so;  in  order  to  save  money  in  advertising 
it  is  necessary  to  make  large  appropriations  for  buy- 
ing space,  to  engage  the  best  artists  and  writers,  and  to 
advertise  in  the  most  expensive  papers.  Cheap  ad- 
vertising is  money  thrown  away. 


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510      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

The  most  valuable  form  of  publicity  is  that  which 
comes  from  a  gratuitous  source,  such  as  the  chance 
puff  in  the  columns  of  a  newspaper  or  the  genuine 
commendation  of  some  person  of  rank  or  assured 
reputation,  or,  better  still,  the  accidental  advertise- 
ment of  some  good  fortune  or  minor  catastrophe  turned 
to  good  account.  One  of  the  biggest  general  supply 
stores  in  London  was  built  up  on  the  fruits  of  a  curi- 
ous accident  of  this  kind.  The  kernel  of  this  business 
was  an  ordinary  comer  grocery  in  the  West  End,  the 
proprietor  of  which  had  stacked  up  a  large  consign- 
ment of  heavy  cheeses  in  the  upper  stories  of  the 
house.  The  building  did  not  prove  equal  to  the  weight. 
The  upper  floors  broke  down,  bringing  with  them  the 
exterior  side  of  the  house,  so  that  the  whole  stock 
of  cheeses  fell  out  into  the  street.  The  incident 
earned  an  amusing  paragraph  in  the  papers  next 
day,  so  that  for  some  time  considerable  crowds  were 
attracted  there  out  of  curiosity.  The  proprietor  was 
clever  enough  to  see  his  opportunity,  and  took  fort- 
une on  the  bound.  He  seized  the  chance  of  adver- 
tising and  extending  his  business,  succeeded  and  built, 
up  a  considerable  fortune. 

No  one  knows  better  than  the  professional  adver- 
tiser and  his  agent  the  unique  value  of  such  a  chance 
publicity,  and  also  of  one  obtained  through  the  favor 
of  some  friend  on  the  press,  or  by  bringing  pressure  to 
bear  on  the  management  of  a  weak  paper.  It  there- 
fore becomes  one  of  the  trials  of  a  newspaper  man- 
ager's life,  and  of  an  editor's,  to  hold  out  against  these 
free  puffs  and  keep  watch  against  their  surreptitious 
occurrence.  If  a  newspaper  begins  to  make  weak 
concessions  in  this  direction,  it  will  find  it  very  harcl 
to  retrieve  its  character  and  regain  its  independence. 


\ 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      511 

The  free  use  of  this  aid  to  advertising,  even  when 
granted  only  to  considerable  advertisers,  lowers  in 
reality  the  commercial  value  of  the  advertising  col- 
umns proper,  and  seems  to  proclaim  to  all  and  sundry 
that  it  is  not  very  well  worth  while  to  buy  legitimate 
advertising  space  in  the  ordinary  way. 

Modem  advertising  is  rather  at  the  parting  of  the 
ways.  It  was  largely  created  by  newspapers,  and  will 
always  continue  to  make  use  of  them;  but,  either  by 
accident  or  by  the  fault  of  newspapers  themselves, 
a  considerable  section  has  been  diverted  into  other 
channels.  Hoardings,  placards,  and  decorated  panels 
are  one  class  of  advertising;  circulars,  pamphlets,  and 
even  books  are  another.  Among  periodicals  them- 
selves almost  as  much  business  goes  to  special  tech- 
nical publications  as  to  newspapers  proper.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  the  newspaper  proper,  in  spite  of  its 
immensely  greater  circulation  and  wider  range,  is 
relatively  losing  ground  compared  with  other  methods ; 
and  newspaper  managers  will  have  to  give  a  great 
deal  of  thought  to  the  problem  of  inducing  the  stream 
of  future  advertising  to  return  to  its  pristine  favorite 
source.  Probably  the  direction  in  which  improve- 
ment can  be  chiefly  expected  is  the  plan  of  getting 
into  direct  touch  with  the  customer.  Advertising 
departments  must  be  much  more  specialized  than 
they  are  now;  experts  of  all  kinds  will  have  to  be 
kept  ready  to  advise  on  difficult  points;  artists  and 
special  writers  should  be  retained  to  give  their  ser- 
vices free.  Advance  in  this  way,  however,  will  be 
seriously  hampered  by  the  power  already  acquired 
by  the  profession  of  advertising  consultants,  who  have 
become  a  very  powerful  body  able  to  divert  business 
in  any  channel  they  please.    Some  way  must  be  found 


'I 


512      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

for  newspapers  to  come  into  touch  with  their  cus- 
tomers and  assist  them  professionally  as  to  the  best 
methods  of  publicity  without  antagonizing  this  m- 
fluential  group  of  middlemen. 

There  is  one  class  of  advertising  which  will  always 
remain  with  newspapers,  because  it  comes  to  them 
direct  now,  and  must  continue  to  do  so,  that  is,  classi- 
fied advertising,  such  as  auctions,  property  to  let  or 
for  sale,  situations  vacant  or  wanted.     This  is  one  of 
the  very  earliest  forms  of  newspaper  advertising ;  and 
it  continues  under  conditions  which  are  very  similar 
to  those  under  which  it  started.    The  revenues  de- 
rived from  it  are  the  backbone  of  the  penny  press. 
It  is  the  one  respect  in  which  they  have  hitherto  held 
their  own  against  the  competition  of  cheaper  and 
more    widely    circulated    papers.     The    business    is 
stable,  because  it  depends  on  the  acquired  habits  of 
the  public,  who  have  become  accustomed  to  look  in 
a  certain  direction  when  they  have  a  certain  want. 
It  is  almost  entirely  independent  of  circulation,  for- 
the  reason  that  a  man  looking  for  a  given  thing  which 
he  is  confident  of  finding  in  a  given  paper  will  buy 
that  paper  for  the  few  days  in  which  he  continues  thei 
search.     There  is  a  well-known  case  of  two  daily 
newspapers  in  a  large  town  in  the  provinces  who  found 
themselves  in  the  following  relative  positions:   Th(i 
one  had  almost  lost  its  circulation,  but  it  still  pubhshed 
regularly  the  great  mass  of  what  newspaper  peoples 
call  the  "small  wanteds"  of  the  district;  but  these  by 
themselves  did  not  yield  any  great  profit.     The  other 
paper  had  a  vigorous  and  considerable  arculation, 
which  naturally  carried  with  it  the  bulk  of  general 
advertising;    but  without  the  classified  advertismj? 
its   profits  '  were   restricted.     Ultimately    both   pro- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      513 

prietors  came  together  and  effected  an  amalgamation 
with  strikingly  successful  results,  as  the  double  reve- 
nue was  sufficient  to  maintain  an  extremely  prosper- 
ous paper. 

A  relic  of  the  old-fashioned  advertising  by  proclama- 
tion still  coming  to  newspapers  is  the  stream  of  public 
notices,  theater  notices,  losts  and  founds,  and  the 
"agony"  column.  For  this  class  of  business  there  is 
no  rival  to  the  newspapers,  whose  circulation  immense- 
ly exceeds  that  of  any  other  medium  of  publicity 
except  that  of  general  weekly  periodicals,  which  are 
published  at  intervals  too  far  apart  to  cover  immedi- 
ate needs.  In  this  respect  their  function  has  become 
the  semi-official  one  of  being  the  universal  gazette 
to  the  public. 


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i 


III 


I 


LXXII 

Killing  the  Beginner  in  Advertising 

Under  the  head  *' Killing  the  Beginner  in  Adver- 
tising" I  wrote  the  following  for  Newspaper donty 
issue  May  12,  19 10,  which,  regardless  of  eight  years' 
experience  in  broader  ways  since  then,  is  not  changed 
in  a  single  word  to  sound  an  appeal  for  co-operative 
effort  in  the  development  of  new  accounts: 

"Creating  new  advertising  is  one  of  the  greatest  ac- 
complishments of  the  first-class  advertising  solicitor. 
To  show  a  business  man  who  has  not  advertised  how 
a  comparatively  small  amount  spent  in  newspaper  ad- 
vertising will  materially  increase  his  business  is  not 
only  making  possible  the  development  of  a  future 
large  account,  but  brings  a  personal  satisfaction  of  a 
good  work  well  done  that  will  be  a  pleasurable  recol- 
lection as  long  as  he  lives. 

' '  Some  years  ago  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  trying  my 
hand  at  creating  a  line  of  women's  tailors'  ads.  for  the 
women's  pages  of  The  New  York  Sunday  Sun.  Up  to 
that  time  only  a  few  hair  goods  and  proprietary  goods 
houses  were  represented  on  those  pages.  I  knew  that 
the  right  sort  of  advertising  would  be  profitable  from 
the  start,  because  it  would  not  be  buried  out  of  plain 
view  from  women  readers,  no  matter  how  small  the  copy. 

**  I  well  remember  the  hard  time  I  had  to  get  a  tailor 


I 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      515 

close  to  Broadway,  not  far  from  Thirtieth  Street,  to 
pay  me  eighty  cents  a  line  for  a  thirty-line  ad.  on  the 
first  Sunday.  I  had  a  pretty  little  line  cut  of  a  suit 
copied  from  one  of  his  fashion  plates,  and  then  in  a 
very  few  words  stated  'High-class  tailor-made  suits, 
from  $35  up.' 

"Before  the  ad.  was  published  his  store  looked  like  a 
down-town  lunch-room  at  midnight.  The  boss  and  a 
little  girl  sewing  buttons  on  a  dress  were  his  only  equip- 
ment. During  the  first  week  he  admitted  taking  five 
orders  from  people  who  had  called  in  response  to  the  ad. 

"On  the  Friday  before  the  second  Sunday,  when  I 
called  with  new  copy,  he  commenced  to  talk  about 
the  rate  being  too  high  and  that  he  could  get  the  same 
ad.  in  other  papers  for  one-quarter  the  price.  I  en- 
deavored to  show  him  that  the  women's  page  of  The 
New  York  Sunday  Sun  stood  in  a  class  by  itself,  regard- 
less of  rate,  and  that  no  one  could  get  an  ad.  there 
for  one  cent  less  than  rates. 

"I  finally  got  the  order  for  another  issue  and  so  on 
for  three  additional  weeks.  By  that  time  he  had  four 
machines  going  in  the  rear  of  his  shop  and  three  or  four 
girls  working  in  the  front.  He  commenced  to  use 
other  papers  for  larger  ads.,  and  finally  did  his  busi- 
ness through  some  small  advertising  agent,  and  moved 
on  to  Fifth  Avenue,  where  he  is  doing  a  thriving  busi- 
ness, if  reports  be  true. 

"Incidentally  I  worked  up  a  number  of  similar  new 
accounts  which  had  to  be  carefully  carried  through 
the  Doubting  Thomas  stages.  While  many  of  them 
stuck,  I  am  sure  that  more  than  half  of  them  were 
killed  before  they  had  really  got  above  ground  by 
copy-chasers  and  account-chasers,  who  knocked  when 
they  saw  that  they  could  not  get  immediate  orders. 


« 


ii* 


III 


516      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

* '  Any  plan  to  bring  about  a  more  concerted  policy 
and  better  understanding  between  the  solicitors  of 
rival  papers  and  advertising  agents  regarding  the 
treatment  of  prospects  is  going  to  make  the  creating 
of  new  business  more  worth  the  effort  and  greatly 
broaden  the  scope  of  the  advertising  field,  both  in  re- 
gard to  the  number  of  accounts  and  amount  of  space 

used.  1-  i     •  4. 

"Those  of  us  who  have  thus  brought  new  light  mto 
the  business  Hves  of,  perhaps,  very  small  tradesmen 
at  the  start,  and  have  seen  them  grow  into  great  mer- 
chants of  the  present  day,  know  the  value  of  the  seed 
we  sowed  years  ago,  and  have  good  reason  to  be  con- 
vinced and  cry  out  at  every  turn  the  merits  and 
wonderful    pulling    powers    of    effective    newspaper 

advertising. 

"The  new-comer  in  the  field  of  advertismg  must  be 
induced  to  spend  some  real  money  for  what  seems  to 
him  to  be  a  highly  problematical  venture.     It  is  usual- 
ly useless  to  talk  to  the  prospect  about  the  cumula- 
tive value  of  advertising.     He  must  be  convmcecl 
through  almost  immediate  results  that  he  has  not 
been  merely  separated  from  his  money  just  the  samcj 
as  on  scores  of  occasions  when  he  put  an  ad.  in  some; 
church  fair  or  ball  program.     He  has  been  stung  so 
many  times  when  he  thought  he  was  buying  adver- 
tising that  he  is  wary  of  the  hook  of  the  genume 
article,  which  would  lead  him  to  great  future  success. 
"The  soHcitor  cultivating  the  prospect  must  make 
a  careful  study  of  the  situation  and  suggest  a  sort  of 
copy  which  will  most  likely  attract  attention  and  pro- 
duce inquiries,  if  not  real  orders,  for  the  advertiser. 
Of  course,  the  new  advertiser  must  be  induced  to  per- 
sist in  his  efforts  for  a  reasonable  length  of  time  before 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      517 

passing  final  judgment  on  the  merits  of  the  advertising. 
It  is  absolutely  fatal  to  hold  out  too  rosy  prospects  for 
the  first  few  ads.,  and  it  is  much  better  to  pretend  that 
any  immediate  results  are  a  surprise  to  the  solicitor. 

"Given  a  retail  store  on  any  main  thoroughfare  it  is 
possible  to  get  up  a  five-inch  double-column  ad.  that 
will  attract  new  trade  almost  immediately  if  inserted 
in  a  prominent  position  in  any  newspaper  of  general 
circulation  in  the  neighborhood.  For  quickest  results 
one  or  two  big  bargain  prices  for  leaders  will  catch  the 
eye  and  bring  the  people  into  the  store.  After  a  few 
insertions  people  will  get  accustomed  to  look  over  the 
ads.  of  the  neighborhood  store,  just  the  same  as  they 
do  other  bargain  announcements,  and  if  they  are  suffi- 
ciently attractive  and  they  require  the  goods  adver- 
tised they  will  trade. 

"At  the  start  the  budding  advertiser  is  like  a  delicate 
plant  just  sprouting  from  the  earth.  He  is  so  sensitive 
and  doubtful  regarding  his  venture  that  a  breath  of 
air  is  apt  to  make  him  lose  heart  and  stop  the  seem- 
ingly frightful  expense.  It  is  while  he  is  in  this  state 
that  many  a  promising  prospect  has  been  spoiled  by 
oversolicitation  and  the  unbusiness-like  methods  of 
those  seeking  to  get  a  piece  of  his  money. 

"While  it  is  perfectly  natural  for  solicitors  on  rival 
papers  to  seek  to  follow  up  every  line  of  copy  appear- 
ing in  another  medium,  there  should  be  an  unwritten 
law  established  and  practised  by  all  that  when  solicit- 
ing the  prospect  of  another's  creating  only  words  of 
encouragement  be  extended  until  the  advertiser  has 
become  convinced. 

"For  the  solicitor  to  pump  the  prospect  full  of  ad- 
verse criticism  of  the  medium  he  is  using  and  to  pretend 
to  show  him  that  his  experimental  advertising  is  cost- 


ill 


tev^iA^I 


I 


518      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

ing  him  more  per  line  per  thousand  of  circulation  than 
they  can  offer  is  only  to  confuse  and  discourage  him. 
By  the  time  he  has  heard  similar  stories  from  the  rej)- 
resentatives  of  several  different  papers  he  is  very 
apt  to  quit  the  game  as  too  difficult  a  proposition  for 
him  to  handle. 

'  'Advertising  managers  and  publishers  are  more  often 
than  not  really  responsible  for  the  oversolicitation  of 
prospects,  and  thus  often  defeat  the  success  of  the 
good  work  of  a  creating  solicitor  on  a  rival  paper  which 
eventually  would  come  into  their  own  columns.  It 
is  done  as  the  papers  are  clipped  and  assignments 
given  solicitors.  The  report  that  it  is  a  prospect 
should  be  sufficient  warning  to  let  the  tender  plant 
grow.  Such  a  report  does  not  satisfy  the  man  who 
demands  that  the  solicitor  get  every  possible  line  in 
any  other  paper,  even  though  he  kill  the  goose  th^it 
is  starting  to  lay  golden  eggs. 

"Still  another  handicap  confronting  the  solicitor 
given  to  creating  new  advertisers  in  any  of  the  large 
cities  is  the  rivalry  between  local  advertising  agenci(js 
for  the  account.  Immediately  after  the  appearance  of 
the  first  ad.  the  prospect  is  deluged  by  offers  from 
adsmiths  to  really  get  him  up  some  copy  that  is  worth 
while.  In  towns  where  a  commission  is  paid  on  local 
business,  such  as  New  York,  the  rivalry  for  new  ac- 
counts is  all  the  keener,  while  in  other  places  the  local 
agent  seeks  compensation  for  the  preparation  of  copy 
over  and  above  the  cost  of  the  advertising. 

"While,  without  a  doubt,  a  well-organized  adver- 
tising agency  is  better  equipped  and  qualified  to  ulti- 
mately handle  and  prepare  the  storekeeper's  adver- 
tising in  the  absence  of  the  services  of  a  competent 
store  advertising  manager,  overzeal  after  an  account 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      519 

in  the  making  may  be  just  as  dangerous  for  its  well- 
being  as  the  oversolicitation  by  other  newspaper 
representatives. 

"All  prospective  parties  at  issue  should  get  together 
and  wait  for  the  prospect  to  see  the  light  in  his  small 
experiment.  Every  one  should  preach  the  gospel  of 
encouragement  and  congratulation:  *A11  advertising 
in  any  reputable  newspaper  is  good  advertising. 
Later  on,  when  you  are  convinced,  we  will  call  around 
and  show  you  how  to  still  further  increase  your  busi- 
ness.' Such  a  platform  would  bring  the  sort  of  fertili- 
zation that  would  promote  the  growth  of  the  plant. 

"The  prospect  is  probably  spending  more  money  for 
the  experiment  than  his  mossback  business  training 
leads  him  to  think  he  should.  Later  on,  when  he 
has  seen  the  light  and  felt  the  benefits  of  advertising 
and  is  spending  three,  four,  or  even  ten  times  as 
much  money  to  make  the  goods  move  quickly,  no  one 
could  stop  him  short  of  killing  him. 

"Then  is  the  time,  if  ever,  for  rival  papers  to  fight 
for  larger  shares  of  the  business. 

"Then  the  advertiser  is  in  a  position  calmly  to  con- 
sider the  relative  values  of  the  different  mediums, 
which  was  impossible  and  confusing  earlier  in  the 
game." 

In  Philadelphia  The  Bulletin  has  specialized  in  the 
cultivation  of  small  ads.,  and  William  Simpson,  the 
business  manager  of  that  paper,  has  told  me  they 
figure  that  it  takes  two  years  to  get  a  prospect 
firmly  on  his  feet  as  an  advertiser.  The  Washington 
Star  Hkewise  has  devoted  much  attention  to  the  de- 
velopment of  small  advertisers  who  have  grown  into 

heavy  users  of  space. 
36 


r^4^^^^ 


M 


v.. 


LXXIII 

The  Law  of  Repetition.— -Thomas  E.  Dockrell 

The  Law  of  Repetition  plays  a  very  important  part 
in  advertising  unappreciated  by  those  who  expect  to 
advertise  to-day  for  results  to-morrow.  Unless  their 
advertising  has  become  a  matter  of  news  interest 
by  regular  and  constant  insertion,  a  single  one-time 
run  will  seldom  produce  results  coming  to  the  man 
or  concern  whose  store  news  and  announcements  are 
looked  for  by  those  seeking  information  regarding 
goods  they  may  need. 

The  late  Thomas  E.  Dockrell,  in  his  masterly 
pamphlet,  "The  Law  of  Mental  Domination,"  on 
this  point  in  arguing  that  the  Bible  interested,  con- 
vinced, and  forced  action  from  humanity  in  a  greater 
degree  than  anything  else  ever  pubHshed,  says: 

First.  It  offered  people  something  they  wanted,  or 
which,  after  its  perusal,  they  realized  they  needed. 

Second.  It  appeals  primarily  to  the  interest  of  its 
readers;  that  is  to  say,  it  talks  more  about  its 
readers'  wants  and  needs  than  of  the  remedy  it 
offered. 

Third.  It  always  uses  simple  language. 

Fourth.  It  constantly  repeats  its  message  and  says 
the  same  things  over  and  over  again  in  the  same  or 
different  ways.     It  does  not  consider  that  once 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      521 

is  often  enough  to  tell  a  message  and  expect  it 
to  be  remembered. 
Fifth.  It  is  always  dominant.  It  is  always  superior. 
It  always  affirms.  It  never  argues.  It  never 
appeals  to  its  readers  for  confirmation  of  its 
statements.  Every  line  breathes  dominance,  su- 
periority, and  confidence  in  its  power  to  dictate 
to  its  readers  as  to  what  their  action  must  be  in 
order  to  acquire  what  it  suggests. 

There  is  most  precious  background  for  a  theory 
of  sound  advertising  included  in  these  five  crisp  con- 
clusions. In  summarizing  Dockrell  says,  ''In  that 
last  paragraph  (the  fifth)  lies  the  difference  between 
the  successful  and  the  unsuccessful  leader,  whether 
the  leadership  be  conducted  by  word  of  mouth  or  by 
printed  matter." 

Later  on  in  the  same  pamphlet  Dockrell  says: 
"The  sacred  writers  brought  the  remedy  for  men's 
fears.  Leaders  of  the  masses  always  built  upon  the 
interests  of  the  men  they  led.  The  advertising  man 
— the  writer  of  copy — must  do  the  same.  First  in  his 
mind  must  be  the  readers'  interest.  Never  forget 
that.  Man  is  interested  in  himself  first.  His  ills  are 
larger  than  the  remedy.  Desire  is  greater  than  its 
satisfaction.  The  present  want  or  need  which  your 
goods  fill  is  larger  to  your  reader  than  the  future  satis- 
faction. First  find  your  reader's  interest  and  then 
interweave  your  goods  with  the  interest. 

"Copy  that  sells  is  not  fashioned  on  what  you  want 
to  say;  it  is  founded  on  what  your  readers  are  ready 
and  anxious  to  hear.  As  soon  as  this  principle  is 
grasped,  the  whole  idea  of  copy  is  changed,  the  writer 
fades  and  the  seeker  of  interest  grows. 


ii 


522      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

**In  these  days,  when  one  man  discourses  on 
'clever'  copy,  another  on  the  necessity  for  'art,' 
another  on  the  'human  nature  appeal,'  others  on 
'publicity'  and  'leaving-something-to-the-imagina- 
tion,'  it  is  refreshing  to  go  back  to  the  Bible  and  other 
sacred  writings  which  did  exactly  what  is  demanded 
of  advertising  copy  to-day,  and  did  it  so  much  better 
than  any  advertising  man,  living  or  dead,  that  there 
is  no  comparison.  The  Bible  never  is  'clever';  it  is 
never  'artistic'  in  the  present  acceptance  of  the  word; 
it  never  'crawls'  appealingly  to  its  readers;  it  does 
not  wander  from  its  subject;  it  does  not  use  un- 
necessary words;  it  does  not  disguise  its  thought. 

"The  Bible,  while  it  changes  the  form  of  its  mes- 
sage, does  not  change  its  simple  language.  It  never 
changes  its  message  so  much  that  the  underlying  idea 
is  lost.  Above  all,  the  Bible  shows  the  intensity  which 
possessed  the  men  who  wrote  it;  they  were  so  satu- 
rated with  the  message  which  they  felt  themselves 
bound  to  convey  that  their  minds  could  hold  nothing 
else.  They  were  incapable  of  straying  from  the  point 
of  their  message;  all  they  could  do  was  to  say  the 
message  over  and  over  again  in  different  ways." 


LXXIV 

The  Ten  Commandments  of  Salesmanship.— 
Dr.  Frank  Crane 

The  following,  by  Dr.  Frank  Crane,  reprinted  from 
The  New  York  Globe  of  Saturday,  June  3,  19 16,  which 
we  have  reprinted  to  meet  calls  from  corporations 
all  over  the  country,  should  have  a  place  on  the  wall 
of  every  advertising  or  sales  manager,  as  well  as  in 
every  advertising  manager's  office: 

"Some  time  ago  I  wrote  an  article  on  'Salesmanship 
from  a  Consumer's  Standpoint.'  I  have  received  so 
many  requests  from  business  houses  to  repubUsh  this 
that  I  have  decided  to  rewrite  it,  make  it  more  con- 
cise, and  cast  it  in  the  form  of  Ten  Commandments. 

"It  is  to  be  kept  in  mind  that  these  commandments 
are  supposed  to  come  from  the  consumer,  and  not 
from  the  sales  expert.  If  you  want  to  sell  me  or 
any  other  buyer  goods,  therefore,  we  pray  you  to 
keep  these  commandments. 

"i.  BE  AGREEABLE.  Other  things  being  equal, 
I  go  to  the  store  where  the  clerks  try  to  please  me.  I 
buy  clothing,  typewriters,  and  automobiles  of  the  man 
who  acts  as  though  he  Hkes  me.  Exert  yourself  to 
make  a  pleasing  impression  on  me,  please.  I  appreci- 
ate it.  Hence,  dress  well.  Untidy  clothes  mean  you 
don't  care  what  I  think  of  your  appearance.     But 


11 


V     i 


m 


'I 


I 


■  I  a 


524      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

don't  dress  too  well.  That  gives  you  an  air  of  showing 
off.  Dress  just  right.  If  you  don't  know  how,  find 
out.  Cultivate  a  pleasing  voice.  Learn  to  converse 
entertainingly.  Cut  out  all  mannerisms.  Give  me 
the  impression  of  a  gentleman,  honest,  square,  anxious 
to  please,  and  good-natured. 

"2.  KNOW  YOUR  GOODS.  Don't  let  there  be 
any  question  I  can  ask  you  relative  to  the  manu- 
facture, history,  distribution,  or  uses  of  what  you 
have  to  sell  that  you  cannot  answer.  If  you're  selling 
typewriters,  know  all  about  all  the  kinds.  If  you're 
selling  coffee,  find  out  all  about  where  all  sorts  of 
coffee  come  from,  and  all  the  points  about  them.  Put 
in  your  spare  time  making  of  yourself  an  encyclopedia 
of  information  about  your  goods. 

"3.  DON'T  ARGUE.  Go  with  me  in  your  talk, 
not  against  me.  Lead,  don't  oppose.  Don't  show  me 
where  I  am  wrong.  Dodge  a  square  issue,  and  show 
mewhereinyou  are  right.  Suggest.  Don't  antagonize. 
Argument,  as  a  rule,  results  in  irritation,  not  conviction. 

"4.  MAKE  THINGS  PLAIN.  Don't  use  any 
words  I  don't  understand.  You  can  explain  the  most 
complicated  matter  to  a  washwoman  if  you  know 
your  subject  perfectly  and  practise  using  simple 
language.  Don't  air  your  technical  knowledge  and 
try  to  impress  me.    I  want  to  be  flattered,  not  awed. 

"  5.  TELL  THE  TRUTH.  Don't  lie,  or  exagger- 
ate, or  mislead,  or  conceal.  Let  me  feel  that  you  are 
sincere,  and  mean  every  word  you  say,  and  that  every 
statement  you  make  is  of  par  value.  If  you  represent 
goods  that  need  lying  about,  directly  or  indirectly, 
quit.  There  are  plenty  of  articles  that  are  straight 
and  all  right.    Sell  them. 

"6.     BE  DEPENDABLE.     Even  in  small  things 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      525 

create  the  impression  that  whatever  you  promise  is 
as  much  to  be  depended  upon  as  your  signed  note. 
If  you  make  an  appointment  at  3  p.m.  Tuesday,  be 
there  at  2.45,  or  telegraph.  If  I  order  goods  of  a  cer- 
tain grade,  let  them  be  found  to  be  exactly  of  that 
grade  when  I  receive  them. 

''7.  REMEMBER  NAMES  AND  FACES.  If 
you  have  not  a  natural  gift  for  this,  acquire  it.  Get 
a  little  book  and  set  down  every  day  the  names  of 
those  you  have  met,  with  their  characteristics.  Prac- 
tise this  until  you  become  expert.  No  man  likes  to 
be  forgotten  or  to  have  you  ask  his  name. 

*'8.  DON'T  BE  EGOTISTIC.  Eliminate  the 
pronoun  I  as  much  as  possible  from  your  vocabulary. 
Talk  about  me,  not  yourself.  Don't  tickle  yourself, 
tickle  me;   I'm  the  one  you  want  to  win. 

''9.     THINK  SUCCESS.     Success  begins  in  the 
mind.     Why  think  fifty  cents  when  it  is  just  as  easy 
to  think  fifty  dollars?    Tell  success  stories,  not  inci- 
dents of  failure  and  hard  luck.     Radiate  prosperity. 
Feel  prosperous.    It's  catching.    Keep  your  chin  up. 
''  10.     BE  HUMAN.     The  reason  you  are  hired  to 
sell  goods  is  that  you  are  a  human  being.    Otherwise 
your  employer  would  have  sent  a  catalogue.     So  be 
a  human  being,  likable,  engaging,  full  of  human  elec- 
tricity.   For  I  patronize  as  a  rule  the  salesman  I  like. 
"Selling  goods  is  the  greatest  business  in  the  world. 
It  takes  all  there  is  in  a  man.     You  need  to  know 
.  psychology,  you  need  tact,  inteUigence,  self-control, 
courage,  persistence,  and  inexhaustible  good  humor. 
It  is  not  a  job  for  a  second-rater.    You  simply  have 
to  make  good  or  go  under. 

"I  admire  a  good  salesman  because  I  never  was  able 
to  sell  anything  in  my  life.    But  I'm  a  good  buyer." 


i 


'I 


I!  I 


• 


^kl 


LXXV 

Successful  Advertising. — George  C.  Sherman 

A  WONDERFULLY  concise  summary  by  George  C. 
Sherman,  of  Sherman  &  Bryan,  reprinted  from 
Printers'  Ink: 

"There  are  as  many  definitions  of  advertising  as 
there  are  kinds  of  advertising.  Some  call  it  'Sales- 
manship-on-paper * — others,  '  merchandizing-in-print. ' 
The  definition  I  like  best  is  'commercialized  push,'  for 
advertising  means  putting  pressure  behind  a  business 
— shoving  it  ahead — keeping  it  moving  onward  and 
forward. 

"Successful  advertising  consists  of  six  equally  im- 
portant parts. 

"i.  A  commodity  already  in  demand  or  one  for 
which  a  legitimate  market  can  be  created. 

"2.  An  article  good  enough  and  priced  to  stand  the 
gaff  of  competition. 

"3.  A  trade-mark  that  explains  at  a  glance  (without 
pages  of  copy)  the  article  that  it  identifies. 

"4.  An  advertising  agency  that  knows  where  and 
how  the  product  should  be  marketed. 

"5.  The  selection  of  proper  media  and  forms  of  ad- 
vertising to  be  adopted. 

"6.  A  combination  of  interests  (men)  with  b^gl^- 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      527 

bone,  and  an  advertising  appropriation  sufficient  to 
blaze  their  own  trail  and  wait  for  results — which 
must  follow. 

"A  world-wide  market  can  never  be  created  for  any 
article  without  advertising.  Advertising  is  not  a 
mystery.  No  man  has  the  secret  of  advertising,  be- 
cause there  is  no  secret  to  it. 

"It  is  simply  applied  common  sense,  but  applied 
along  the  right  lines,  meaning  along  the  lines  of  ex- 
perience. No  manufacturer  can  make  a  world-wide 
market  for  his  goods  without  taking  the  first  step. 
He  must  take  that  step  before  he  can  get  under  way, 
and  after  he  gets  under  way  he  must  keep  up  speed 
if  he  expects  to  reach  the  desired  haven.  Any  man 
who  manufactures  a  good  article  and  advertises  it 
wisely  can  create  not  only  a  nation-wide  market,  but 
a  world-wide  market  for  his  goods.  But  he  must 
never  say  'die,'  even  in  face  of  apparent  obstacles. 
Like  any  man  in  private  life,  a  manufacturer  of  a 
trade-marked  article  must  make  stepping-stones  out 
of  stumbling-blocks." 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING     529 


LXXVI 

Why  the  Salesman  Fell  Down 

WHY  THE   SALESMAN   FAILED 

■ 

{From  the  Bankers'  and  Brokers'  Gazette) 

He  wasn't  neat  in  his  appearance. 

He  lacked  dignity  in  his  bearing. 

He  used  no  tact  in  introducing  himself. 

He  was  late  in  keeping  his  appointment. 

He  had  a  conceited  and  arrogant  manner. 

He  did  not  believe  in  his  own  proposition. 

He  disgusted  his  prospect  with  gross  flattery. 

He  didn't  know  the  fine  points  of  his  own  goods. 

He  offended  the  prospect  by  undue  familiarity. 

He  made  a  bitter   attack  upon  his  competitor's 

goods. 

He    openly    ridiculed    his    prospect's    ideas    and 

methods. 

He  made  no  preHminary  study  of  his  prospect's 

case. 

He  relied  on  bluff  instead  of  solid  argument  based 

on  facts. 

He  got  lost  in  the  forest  of  details  and  couldn't 

stick  to  essentials. 

He  had  been  out  with  the  boys  the  night  before 
and  showed  the  effects. 


J4 


He  talked  too  much.  He  gave  his  prospect  no 
chance  to  explain  his  needs  and  position. 

He  couldn't  answer  questions  and  objections  in- 
telligently, concisely,  and  convincingly.  He  tried  to 
close  his  prospect  before  he  had  worked  him  up  to  a 
point  of  conviction. 

He  lost  his  nerve  because  the  prospect  presented 
such  an  unyielding  front,  forgetting  that  battles  are 
won  by  hard  rallies  at  the  finish. 

He  didn't  know  his  business  when  he  made  the  ap- 
proach; didn't  talk  clean-cut  business  after  he  got 
in;  didn't  make  it  his  business  to  fight  all  the  way 
through,  and  didn't  do  business  before  he  left. 


I1^3^5s™iHFilP'S5B3^1^«3SB!BPBR^re5^B^ra! 


i^ii 


l-A^ 


LXXVII 

Elbert  Hubbard  on  Advertising 

The  late  Elbert  Hubbard,  who  as  well  as  any  man 
of  his  time  knew  how  to  advertise  and  create  resultful 
advertising,  contributed  the  following  to  The  Com- 
mercial Union  of  September  29,  19 10,  which  is  well 
worth  recording  in  a  book  of  this  kind: 

''The  things  that  live  are  the  things  that  are  well 
advertised.  The  thoughts  that  abide  are  those  that 
are  strongly  maintained,  ably  defended,  well  ex- 
pressed. 

"All  literature  is  advertising,  and  all  written  ad- 
vertising that  grips  attention  is  literature. 

"The  world  accepts  a  man  or  an  institution  at  the 
estimate  it  places  on  itself.  To  let  the  rogues  and 
fools  expound  and  explain  you  to  the  multitude,  and 
you  yourself  make  no  sign,  is  to  allow  the  falsehood 
to  pass  as  current  coin. 

"As  soon  it  becomes  legal  tender.  According  to 
the  common  law  of  England  a  path  across  your 
property  once  used  by  the  people  is  theirs  for  all 
time. 

"In  America  millions  of  dollars  are  now  being  ex- 
pended by  certain  successful  firms  and  corporations 
to  correct  a  wrong  impression  that  has  been  allowed 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      531 

to  get  a  foothold  in  the  public  mind   concerning 

them. 

"Just  remember  this:  It  is  not  the  thing  itself  that 
lives;  it  is  what  is  said  about  it.  Your  competitors, 
the  disgruntled  ones,  are  busy.  The  time  to  correct 
a  lie  is  when  it  is  uttered.  So  the  moral  is :  You  must 
advertise,  no  matter  how  successful  you  are. 

"You  must  advertise  wisely  and  discreetly,  so  as 
to  create  a  public  opinion  that  is  favorable  to  you. 

"To  stop  advertising  is  to  let  your  business  run 
on  momentum,  and  momentum  is  a  gradual  move 
toward  a  dead  stop. 

"The  Zeitgeist  is  always  at  work,  always  rolling  up 
as  a  big  snowball  grows.  The  best  asset  you  have  is 
the  good-will  of  the  public,  and  to  secure  this  and 
hold  it  advertising  is  necessary.  And  the  more  suc- 
cessful you  are  the  more  necessary  it  is  that  you  should 
place  yourself  in  a  true,  just,  and  proper  light  before 
the  world,  ere  the  lies  crystallize  and  you  find  yourself 
buried  under  a  mountain  of  falsehood.  For  'Be  thou 
as  chaste  as  ice,  as  pure  as  snow,  thou  canst  not  es- 
cape calumny.*  And  the  more  successful  you  are 
the  finer  target  are  you  for  rumor.  The  only  man 
who  is  really  safe  is  the  man  who  does  nothing,  thinks 
nothing,  says  nothing,  has  nothing.  He  is  the  only 
one  who  need  not  advertise. 

"To  stand  still  is  to  retreat. 

"To  worship  the  god  Terminus  is  to  have  the  Goths 
and  Vandals,  that  skirt  the  borders  of  every  success- 
ful venture,  pick  up  your  Termini  and  carry  them 
inland,  long  miles,  between  the  setting  of  the  sun 
and  his  rising. 

"To  hold  the  old  customers,  you  must  get  out  after 
the  new. 


\ 


i 


532      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

*' When  you  think  you  are  big  enough  there  is  Hme 
in  the  bones  of  the  boss,  and  a  noise  Hke  a  bucaneer 
is  heard  in  the  offing. 

*'The  reputation  that  endures,  or  the  institution 
that  lasts,  is  the  one  that  is  properly  advertised. 

**The  only  names  in  Greek  history  that  we  know  are 
those  which  Herodotus  and  Thucydides  graved  with 
deathless  styli. 

"The  men  of  Rome  who  live  and  tread  the  board- 
walk are  those  Plutarch  took  up  and  writ  their  names 
large  on  human  hearts. 

"All  that  Plutarch  knew  of  Greek  heroes  was  what 
he  read  in  Herodotus. 

"All  that  Shakespeare  knew  of  classic  Greek  and 
Rome,  and  the  heroes  of  that  far-off  time,  is  what 
he  dug  out  of  Plutarch's  Lives.  And  about  all  that 
most  people  now  know  of  Greece  and  Rome  they  got 
from  Shakespeare. 

"Plutarch  boomed  his  Roman  friends  and  matched 
each  favorite  with  some  Greek,  written  of  by  Herod- 
otus. Plutarch  wrote  of  the  men  he  liked,  some  of 
whom  we  know  put  up  good  mazuma  to  cover  ex- 
penses. 

"Horatius  still  stands  at  the  bridge,  because  a  poet 
placed  him  there. 

"Paul  Revere  rides  adown  the  night,  giving  his 
warning  cry,  because  Longfellow  set  the  meters  in  a 
gallop. 

"Across  the  waste  of  waters  the  enemy  calls  upon 
Paul  Jones  to  surrender,  and  the  voice  of  Jones  echoes 
back,  'Damn  your  souls,  we  have  not  yet  begun  to 
fight !'  And  the  sound  of  the  fearless  voice  has  given 
courage  to  countless  thousands  to  snatch  victory 
from  the  jaws  of  defeat. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      533 

"In  Brussels  there  is  yet  to  be  heard  a  sound  of 
revelry  by  night,  only  because  Byron  told  of  it. 

"Commodore  Perry,  that  rash  and  impulsive  youth 
of  twenty-six,  never  sent  that  message,  'We  have 
met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours,'  but  a  good  re- 
porter did,  and  the  reporter's  words  live,  while  Perry's 
died  on  the  empty  air.'' 


|i 


LXXVIII 
Conclusion 

I  HAVE  set  down  for  consideration  and  possible  ap- 
plication various  views,  suggestions,  and  practical 
demonstrations  regarding  the  matter  of  newspaper 
advertising  in  a  way  to  provide  a  guide  for  those  whc> 
would  go  farthest  in  a  most  interesting  and  profitable; 
business.  I  have  sought  to  lay  all  the  cards  face  up 
on  the  table,  to  explain  what  certain  combinations 
mean  and  will  produce,  rather  than  to  present  a  mass; 
of  theoretical  matter  much  more  difficult  to  grasj) 
and  put  in  operation. 

I  have  sought  to  show  that  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  newspaper  advertising  is  a  vastly  different 
matter  from  the  mere  selHng  of  space  such  as  many 
very  successful  newspapers  indulge  in  even  to-day. 
The  newspaper  has  a  more  serious  duty  to  perform 
to  its  readers  than  to  accept  and  print  any  adver- 
tising that  is  offered  to  it,  and  should  have  a  greater 
interest  in  its  regular  advertisers  than  to  compel  them 
to  compete  with  fakes  and  quacks. 

I  have  merely  glanced  at  the  beginnings  of  news- 
paper advertising  to  point  out  from  what  crudities 
present-day  efficiencies  have  grown  and  briefly  con- 
sidered some  of  the  more  interesting  high  spots  cf 
experience  that  have  come  within  my  observation 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING       535 

during  nearly  forty  years  in  the  business.  I  have 
secured  from  leading  experts  in  various  phases  of  the 
business  contributions  which  may  be  accepted  as  the 
present-day  last  word  from  acknowledged  authorities. 

I  have  found  the  study  of  newspaper  advertising  a 
subject  worthy  the  painstaking  research  of  aU  who 
would  succeed  in  almost  any  commercial  activity. 
I  have  found  that  those  who  really  secured  most 
lasting  success  through  newspaper  advertising  have 
had  to  have  "the  goods"  in  order  to  estabhsh  per- 
manency. ,    .,  , 

We  have  seen  how  Robert  Bonner  built  up  a  story- 
paper  with  400,000  circulation  back  in  the  '6o's  by 
giving  the  people  ''the  goods"  and  advertising  them 
in  a  bigger  and  more  effective  way  than  any  of  his 
competitors;  how  A.  T.  Stewart,  Marshall  Field, 
Benjamin  Altman,  from  small  beginnings,  built  enor- 
mous and  enduring  businesses  which  have  continued 
to  grow  despite  much  heavier  advertismg  by  com- 
petitors, simply  because  the  public  had  been  con- 
vinced by  long-continued  honest  practices  that  the 
advertising  offerings  of  these  firms  were  "the  goods." 

We  have  seen  how  Henry  Ford,  by  the  application 
of  principles  of  sound  common  sense  to  quantity  pro- 
duction of  an  automobile  at  a  price  within  the  reach 
of  millions  of  people,  frankly  telling  them  that  the 
more  they  bought  the  cheaper  he  could  sell  them, 
has  proved  himself  the  greatest  advertising  genius 
of  the  generation.  Ford  has  always  sold  "the  goods," 
and  every  one  knows  that  he  has,  and  that  is  why  he 
stands  head  and  shoulders  above  others  less  inclined 
to  take  the  people  into  their  confidence. 

We  have  seen  how  John  Wanamaker,  both  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  by  giving  more  serious  at- 


1 


536      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

tention  to  advertising  in  the  organization  of  forces 
larger  than  are  employed  in  getting  out  many  a  con- 
siderable newspaper,  always  making  his  advertising 
interesting  and  attractive,  has  won  marvelous  suc- 
cess. It  is  easy  to  prove  that  the  Wanamaker  ad- 
vertising is  more  closely  read  and  more  readily  be- 
lieved than  that  of  many  of  his  competitors  using 
other  styles  and  much  space. 

I  have  considered  the  organization  of  the  adver- 
tising department  of  the  newspaper  and  the  best 
type  of  men  to  employ  both  as  manager  and  solicitors 
in  order  to  make  them  co-ordinate  with  best  thought 
and  practices  by  both  advertiser  and  advertising 
agent.  I  have  shown  how  the  advertising  agent  came 
into  the  problem,  how  the  newspapers  later  had  to 
develop  special  representatives,  and  how  to-day  we 
are  at  a  point  where  greater  co-operation  between  these 
various  factors  is  going  to  double  or  treble  the  volume 
of  newspaper  advertising. 

I  have  shown  how  the  newspapers  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  operating  as  2,650  separate  units, 
each  out  for  himself  with  foolish  ideas  that  any  one 
desiring  to  trade  with  it  must  do  so  on  such  terms  as 
it  demands,  can  never  attain  maximum  results  for 
any  one  of  them  or  for  all  of  them  as  an  industry. 
I  have  shown  how,  through  co-operation  among  them- 
selves, standardization  of  practices  and  working  inclose 
harmony  with  other  factors  in  the  equation — manu- 
facturers, retailers,  and  advertising  agents — they  can 
attain  largest  results. 

The  newspapers  control  the  machinery  or  process 
by  which,  through  sound  merchandizing  of  honest 
goods  with  advertising  which  will  win  and  merit 
public  confidence,  they  can  sell  anything  in  general 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      537 

demand  offered  at  fair  prices  in  almost  as  large  quan^ 
titles  as  any  manufacturer  can  turn  «^t.  J^^^^  ^\^ 
strong  statement  of  an  advanced  position,  but  to 
the  author  and  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouWe 
to  dig  out  the  underlying  factors  presented  m  this 
book  it  is  logical  and  simple. 

If  I  have  proved  that  there  is  no  possible  substi- 
tute for  "the  goods"  in  successful  advertising  that 
builds  enduring  trade,  that  there  is  no  roy^l  ^oad  to 
wealth  through  advertising,  and  disproved  the  foobsh 
notion  that  advertising  successes  are  the  result  of 
chance  shots  and  good  luck,  I  shall  rest  satisfied^ 
Unsound  views  of  advertising  are  the  rocks  upon 
which  hundreds  of  millions  of  honest  advertising  dol- 
lars have  been  shipwrecked  by  adventurers  without 
proper  equipment  in  the  way  of  the  compasses  and 

charts  of  experience.  ,  ^^  a  u     fi.o  mfTi 

The  graveyards  of  advertisers  killed  by  the  ruth- 

lessness  and  ignorance  of  the  representative  of  general 

mediums,   who  got  serious  business  men  to  invest 

honest  money  in  so-called  national  advertising  before 

the  firms  had   secured   a   distribution   sufficient   to 

make  it  possible  for  such  publicity  to  be  profitably 

employed,  make  up  the  most   sickening  exhibit  m 

the  history  of  advertising.     Those  best  informed  m 

the  business  now  admit  the  superiority  of  newspaper 

advertising,  and  that  it  is  the  only  sort  of  advertising 

that  will  sell  the  goods  in  the  dealers'  stores 

The  author  has  no  sympathy  for  those  who  would 
have  him  refrain  from  what  they  term  knocking 
other  types  of  media,  on  the  ground  that  any  criti- 
cism of  advertising  is  bad  for  advertising.  One  would 
think,  to  listen  to  them,  that  advertising  was  a  fragile 
hothouse    plant  that  must  be  nursed  and   coddled 


i  ^  ■! 


I  u 


Ii1i 


538      BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

like  an  orchid,  instead  of  the  huskiest  and  most  virile 
force  in  modem  commerce  and  business,  so  sound,  in 
fact,  that  it  has  been  strong  enough  to  lug  along  dead- 
wood  and  parasites  without  limit. 

My  purpose  has  been  to  tell  the  truth,  to  acknowl- 
edge OUT  weaknesses,  to  show  how  we  can  eliminate 
the  germs  of  disease  that  may  have  crept  into  our 
system,  and  stand  up  hke  "go  get  'em"  men  able  to 
deliver  about  loo  per  cent,  efficiency.  If  shams  and 
make-believe  stand  in  our  path  we  must  sweep  them 
one  side  or  ride  over  them,  as  they  have  tried  to  do 
to  us  in  the  past,  in  the  full  confidence  that  as  we 
are  right  and  they  are  wrong  we  shall  prevail. 

To  know  our  weakness  is  to  be  able  to  overcome 
it.  To  know  our  strength  should  make  us  desirous 
of  utilizing  it  to  greatest  possible  advantage  both 
for  ourselves  and  those  who,  through  traffic  with  us, 
yield  us  profit  and  take  it  themselves.  Knowledge 
is  power  if  those  in  possession  of  it  have  ability  to 
apply  it  correctly  with  advantage  to  the  community 
and  the  nation.  To  have  knowledge  regarding  adver- 
tising is  to  be  able  to  perform  what  seem  like  miracles 
to  the  uninformed. 

The  conclusions  and  deductions  from  the  basic 
truths  laid  down  in  this  book  lead  us  to  believe  the 
greatest  stumbling-blocks  in  the  development  of  vastly 
more  advertising  are  the  ignorance  or  insincerity  of 
the  seller  or  manufacturer  of  space  and  the  lack  of 
courage  or  meanness  of  the  man  with  ''the  goods" 
which  could  be  exploited  a  hundredfold  through  ad- 
vertising. 

The  whole  process  is  so  simple  and  sure-fire  that 
advertising  may  be  said  to  have  passed  the  experi- 
mental stage,  provided  it  is  done  properly  and  with 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      539 

an  absolute  determination  to  succeed.  Too  many  peck 
at  it  instead  of  carrying  it  through  vigorously  with 
the  "I  will"  spirit.  Too  many  go  into  it  feehng  that 
they  are  embarking  on  an  experiment,  and  merely 
hoping  against  hope  that  it  will  succeed,  but  ever 
ready  to  weaken  if  everything  does  not  come  along 

on  schedule  time.  ^       ^-u  ^ 

Wide  observation  has  revealed  to  the  author  that 
many  who  pretend  to  have  successful  knowledge  and 
experience  in  advertising  are  mere  pretenders  or  er- 
roneously think  they  know.  To-day  there  is  no  need 
for  depending  on  such,  for  there  are  many  who  can 
ring  the  bell  neariy  every  time,  provided  the  adver- 
tiser will  stand  game  and  see  the  battle  through. 

With  men  Hke  Stanley  Resor,  Robert  Tinsman, 
Wilbur  Nesbit,  H.  K.  McCann,  John  Lee  Mahin,  O. 
H.  Blackman,  W.  R.  Hotchkin,  Joseph  H.  Appel,  A. 
B.  Freeman,  to  mention  only  a  few  in  the  class,  he 
who  would  know  whether  his  product  is  of  the  kind 
that  can  be  largely  developed  through  advertising 
will  risk  nothing  by  taking  advice  from  those  who 
by  sound  experience  can  render  valuable  counsel. 

Few  newspaper  publishers  have  confidence  in  the 
goods  they  sell— advertising— as  proved  by  the  grudg- 
ing way  they  spend  their  own  money  in  advertising 
the  goods  they  have  for  sale.  A  glance  at  the  trade 
papers  shows  that  only  a  handful  out  of  the  2,600 
regularly  advertises  in  them.  Yet  it  is  mainly  the 
newspapers  which  advertise  in  the  trade  papers  that 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  procession. 

Advertising  is  contagious  in  mote  ways  than  one. 
Those  who  know  its  power  and  how  to  use  it  con- 
stantly find  new  ways  to  use  it  for  added  profit. 
Among  the  newspapers,  those  which  carry  the  volume 


■  f 


m 


540     BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING 

in  any  line  generally  can  be  used  successfully  for  that 
line  with  eyes  shut.  Advertising  begets  advertising, 
both  for  the  medium  and  the  advertisers,  and  the 
strange  thing  about  the  matter  is  that  real  ad- 
vertising cheapens  the  cost  of  a  commodity  to  the 
consumer. 

I  call  particular  attention  to  the  part  devoted  to 
contributions  from  a  selected  few  of  the  leading  ad- 
vertising agents  of  the  country  as  giving  best  and 
most  up-to-date  views  of  soundest  modem  practices 
and  indicating  the  degree  and  kind  of  co-operation 
which  newspapers  can  extend  to  advertisers  for 
greatest  constructive  purposes. 

Having  been  in  the  newspaper  and  advertising 
business  for  many  years,  and  having  studied  practices 
and  methods  in  a  national  way  during  much  of  that 
time,  I  am  now  firmly  of  the  opinion  that,  used  effec- 
tively, newspaper  advertising  possesses  powers  and 
values  which  only  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
our  leading  business  men  understand  or  utilize. 

Summarized,  successful  newspaper  advertising  must 
be  predicated  upon: 

1.  An  article  in  general  demand. 

2.  An  article  worth  at  least  what  is  asked  for  it. 

3.  An  article  at  least  as  good  as  any  other  sold 

at  the  price. 

4.  Sound  merchandizing  methods. 

5.  Demonstrated  customer  satisfaction. 

6.  Money  back  if  not  satisfied. 

7.  Highest  degree  of  service. 

8.  No  overstatement  or  exaggeration. 

9.  Strong  individuality  in  copy  and  treatment. 
10.  Forceful  and  persistent  copy. 


BUILDING  NEWSPAPER  ADVERTISING      541 

Almost  any  of  the  great  successes  of  the  past, 
whether  it  be  a  department  store,  a  story-paper,  a 
circus,  a  line  of  undergarments,  a  show,  or  what  not, 
can  be  reconciled  with  some  or  all  of  these  basic 
checking  points.  There  are  other  and  probably  just 
as  important  considerations  among  them : 

1.  Will  it  repeat? 

2.  Will  it  give  satisfaction? 

3.  Can  it  hold  its  own  against  substitutes? 

4.  Will  increased  sale  enable  you  to  sell  at  lower 

price? 

5.  In  what  territory  can  market  be  most  effec- 

tively stimulated? 

6.  At  what  point  will   saturation   make  further 

progress  too  expensive? 

7.  Is  it  an  exclusive  agency  proposition? 

8.  The  efficiency  of  the  selHng  plan. 

9.  Dealer  helps. 

10.  Special  demonstrations  and  tryouts. 

Real  service  advertising  agencies,  such  as  those 
represented  by  the  contributions  in  Part  VI,  by  reason 
of  experience  in  the  successful  introduction  of  various 
articles,  can  furnish  a  degree  of  valuable  advice  and 
suggestion  to  the  prospective  advertiser  worth  many 
times  what  the  service  costs.  In  the  next  twenty 
years  what  we  call  efficient  advertising  to-day  will 
seem  as  crude  to  the  experts  as  that  of  the  '6o's  and 
'70's  does  to  us.  We  have  discovered  much  concern- 
ing the  truth  and  underlying  factors,  but  it  takes 
time  for  the  knowledge  to  be  accepted  and  applied. 


■t 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  A 

Table  of  Newspapers  by  States  with  Circulation,  by 

Harry  Pruden 


Various  estimates  have  been  made  regarding  the 
average  daily  circulation  of  all  the  daily  newspapers  in 
the  United  States.  It  is  probable  that  the  total  is 
now  very  close  to  30,000,000  copies  a  day,  or  one  copy 
to  about  every  3>^  people.  On  the  old  estabhshed 
theory  that  the  average  household  consists  of  five 
people,  the  newspapers  would  seem  to  fairly  saturate 
the  nation. 

The  following  table,  compiled  by  Harry  Pruden, 
of  Van  Patten,  Inc.,  of  New  York,  for  The  Fourth 
Estate,  presents  very  interesting  data.  It  covers 
2,044  publications  out  of  probably  2,465  in  the 
country : 

For  the  convenience  of  readers  of  The  Fourth  Estate,  the 
figures  are  tabulated  herewith  by  state  totals  and  papers  in  the 
principal  cities.  The  table  following  gives  full  information  on  the 
subject  in  whichever  of  these  forms  is  most  desired: 


PROMINENT  CITIES 

Papers 

Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California San  Francisco  5 

Los  Angeles..  6 

Colorado Denver 3 

Connecticut 

Delaware 


Cir'n 


469.750 
401,844 
156.690 


OTHER  CITIES  TOTAL 

Papers   Cir'n  Papers  Cir'n 
23 


126   430,498 


33 


50.339 


17 

30 

137 

36 

35 

3 


187.529 

40,026 

87.142 

1.302,092 

207.029 

285.194 

37.993 


546 


APPENDIX  A 


PROMINENT  CITIES 


Dist.  Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia Atlanta 

Idaho 

Illinois Chicago 

Indiana Indianapolis  . 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky L-ouisville 

Louisiana New  Orleans . 

Maine 

Maryland Baltimore .  .  . 

Massachusetts  .  Boston 

Michigan Detroit 

Minnesota Minneapolis  . 

St.  Paul 

Mississippi 

Missouri St.  Louis . . . . 

Kansas  City. 

Montana 

Nebraska Omaha 

Nevada 

Nc  .  Hampshire 

New  Jersey ....  Newark 

New  Mexico 

New  York New  York . . . 

Brooklyn 

Buffalo 

North  Carolina 

North  Dakota 

Ohio Cleveland .  .  , 

Cincinnati . . . 

Oklahoma 

Oregon Portland .... 

Pennsylvania  . .  Philadelphia . 
Pittsburg .... 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

South  Dakota 

Tennessee Memphis. . . . 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington..  .  .Seattle 

Wisconsin Milwaukee. . . 

Wyoming 


Papers      Cir'n 


OTHER  CITIES 

Papers        Cir'n 


TOTAL 

Papers     Cir'n 


135.156         25        135.989 


7 
3 


4 
3 

4 
8 

4 
3 
2 


1,643,029 
253.689 


161,980 
160,350 

328,293 
1,419.418 
497. Ill 
301,331 
210,029 


121   1,192,716 
128    516,291 


5    598,643 
3   621,990 


23  82,202 

12  20,569 

9  79,747 

62  482,955 

60  442,621 

32  186,742 


67    172,996 


214.336 


2  124,669 

*•     •• ■ 

14  3.589.957 

4  191.954 

6  270,166 


21    104,732 


32   298,31s 
112  1,052,071 


3 

4 


493.084 
449.018 


142  1,003,192 


4   174.544 
8  1,100,949 

7   568,186 


26    49.976 
/  171  1,083.683 


3 
5 


142,948 


172,310 
261,194 


II    175.760 


28    241,928 
42    155.783 


48  States 


28  Cities 


4 
29 
28 
10 
128 
131 
49 
68 

27 
15 
13 
13 
70 
64 
37 

16 
75 

18 
24 
10 
n 

34 

6 

136 


33 

12 

149 

51 

30 

190 

ID 
16 
17 
14 
94 
8 
10 

30 
31 

47 
5 


190.147 
ii6,7')6 
271.14s 
39,703 
2.835.745 
762,980 
522,5()0 
296,9(2 
244,182 
180,9  [9 
109,781 
408,040 

1.902,373 
939. 7:;  2 
698,102 

40,8514 
1.393.619 

89.267 

319.0(8 

17.186 

52,069 

422,984 

16,849 

5,081.152 


143.560 

55.231 

1. 945. 294 

232,55s 

224,530 

2,752,818 

169.175 
87,40') 
47.73* 

318,70? 

569,61.2 
88,237 

45.23:! 
267, 6i<) 
4I4.23'5 
416,977 

I3.7IH 


129  S,ii2.6i8  1,283  21,267.507  2,044  26.575.204 


Only  general  English  daily  newspapers  are  included,  all  foreign 
language  and  class  dailies  being  omitted  from  consideration,  which 
accounts  for  the  difference  between  that  number  and  the  total 
of  2,465  daily  papers  in  the  United  States  noted  in  Ayer's  Amer- 
ican Newspaper  Annual  and  Directory  for  19 18. 


APPENDIX  B 

Who  Was  the  First  Advertising  Agent? 

A    LOOK    BACKWARD   THREE-QUARTERS    OF   A    CENTURY 

(From  Printers^  Ink,  June  13,  1918) 

Detroit,  Mich.,  May  31,  1918. 
Editor  of  Printers'  Ink: 

Will  you  tell  me,  please,  the  name  of  the  first  advertising  agent 
who  started  business  in  this  country?  Is  he,  or  his  successor,  still 
in  business?  Philip  W.  Reese. 

We  are  accustomed  to  think  of  the  business  of  advertising  as 
one  that  sprang  up  within  a  generation  or  two,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  if  some  of  the  younger  members  of  the  profession 
seek  for  the  first  agent  among  those  now  in  business.  Before 
the  agency  of  N.  W.  Ayer  &  Son  was  founded,  in  1869,  perhaps 
a  score  of  agencies  had  been  established  and  some  of  them  had 
made  a  perceptible  dent  in  the  business  world.  Geo.  P.  Rowell 
&  Co.  started  in  Boston  in  1865,  and  there  were  in  existence  in 
that  year  agents  in  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  and  San  Francisco,  as 
well  as  several  in  New  York.  But  let  us  start  at  the  root  of  the 
original  tree  and  work  up. 

The  first  agent  we  know  anything  about  was  Volney  B.  Palmer, 
who  started  business  in  1840  and  soon  had  offices  in  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  Appleton's  American  Cyclopedia 
in  an  addition  that  was  current  almost  thirty  years  ago  credits 
Orlando  Bourne  with  being  the  first  agent,  giving  him  the  date 
1828,  but  no  other  record  has  been  found  of  him,  and  Palmer 
was  the  first  agent,  assuredly,  who  left  his  mark. 

Palmer's  business  in  Boston  passed  into  the  hands  of  S.  R. 
Niles.    S.  M.  Pettengill,  who  worked  for  Palmer,  established  his 


548 


APPENDIX  B 


own  business  in  Boston  in  1849.  In  Philadelphia,  Joy,  Coe  & 
Co.  succeeded  to  the  business.  Later  the  firm  was  known  as 
Coe,  Wetherell  &  Smith,  and  about  1876  what  there  was  left  of 
the  business  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Ayer  agency. 

Palmer's  business  in  New  York  likewise  fell  to  Joy,  Coe  & 
Co.,  and  in  later  years  was  passed  over  to  W.  W.  Sharpe,  whose 
death  was  recorded  in  Printers'  Ink  last  month.  Under  the 
name  of  W.  W.  Sharpe  &  Co.  this  agency  is  still  conducted  in 
New  York. 

This  much  for  the  bare  record  of  Volney  B.  Pahner's  business 
tree.  Let  us  now  take  note  of  another  pioneer,  and  then  return 
for  a  brief  review  of  Mr.  Pahner's  personal  traits  and  business 
methods. 

hooper's  office  was  under  ms  hat 

This  other  pioneer  was  John  Hooper,  and  he  was,  perhaps,  the 
first  agent  in  New  York.  Whether  he  was  in  this  field  ahead  of 
Pahner  history  recordeth  not.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  early 
in  the  '40's  of  the  last  century  John  Hooper  was  executing  com- 
missions for  a  number  of  advertisers.  He  entered  the  employ 
of  The  New  York  Tribune  in  1841  as  an  advertising  solicitor. 
Quickly  he  secured  a  large  patronage  and  a  corresponding  in- 
come. Quoting  from  the  issue  of  Printers'  Ink  that  chronicled 
his  death,  over  twenty-eight  years  ago:  "As  his  customers  were 
often  desirous  of  more  general  publicity  than  could  be  secured 
through  the  columns  of  a  single  paper,  he  was  not  long  in  per- 
ceiving the  advantages  that  might  be  derived  from  an  arrange- 
ment that  could  enable  business  men  to  secure,  through  him,  a 
general  appearance  of  their  advertisements  in  whatever  mediums 
they  might  choose  to  select.  This  idea  was  carried  to  a  successful 
termination,  and,  by  judiciously  following  it  up,  paved  his  way 
to  wealth.  Successful  negotiations  were  made  with  the  publish- 
ers, who  willingly  allowed  him,  from  their  net  cash  rates  to  adver- 
tisers, a  fair  commission  for  such  business  as  he  should  secure 
for  their  colimins." 

For  several  years,  apparently,  Mr.  Hooper's  orders  were  mostly 
carried  in  his  hat.  His  method  of  financing  the  business  was 
simple:  he  would  pay  the  newspaper's  bill,  take  a  receipt,  carry 
the  bill  to  his  principal,  and  the  transaction  would  be  closed. 
He  resided  in  Dutch  Street,  where  he  received  orders,  but  rented 
no  office.    As  business  grew  he  took  an  office  in  Fulton  Street, 


APPENDIX  B 


549 


and  when  the  old  Times  Building  was  erected  at  the  juncture  of 
Nassau  Street  and  Park  Row  he  moved  there — then  in  the 
thick  of  all  things  of  an  advertising  nature.  In  1870  he  sold  his 
business  to  Geo.  P.  Rowell  &  Co.  for  $10,000.  When  he  died,  in 
1889,  he  had  for  many  years  been  a  millionaire — which  was  much 
more  of  an  achievement  than  now. 

the  old  idea  of  "agency  service" 

The  most  extensive  account  of  Volney  B,  Palmer  that  we  know 
about  was  written  for  Printers'  Ink  in  1890  by  S.  M.  Pettengill, 
himself  an  early  agent,  and  before  that  an  employee  of  Palmer. 
The  latter  is  described  as  a  "short,  thick-set  gentleman  of  good 
address;  genial  and  pleasant  in  manner,  and  had  a  good  com- 
mand of  language,  'full  of  wise  sayings  and  modem  instances.' 
He  was  a  capital  story-teller — wore  gold  spectacles  and  carried 
a  gold-headed  cane,  and  was  a  first-class  canvasser. 

"He  had  more  self-possession,"  said  Mr.  Pettengill,  "than  any 
man  I  ever  knew.  He  would  come  to  his  office  at  about  9  a.m., 
look  over  the  daily  papers  for  new  advertisements,  which  I  would 
cut  out  and  make  a  list  of  for  calling  on.  At  about  ten  o'clock 
we  would  sally  out,  calling  on  the  most  important  advertisers 
first.  He  would  march  into  the  counting-room  of  the  merchants, 
calling  for  the  principal  partner,  and  announce  himself,  and  hand 
his  card  with  a  pleasing  address,  and  with  as  much  assurance 
as  if  he  were  a  customer  who  was  about  to  purchase  a  large  bill 
of  goods.  If  he  found  the  merchant  busy,  he  would  politely 
excuse  himself  and  inquire  when  he  could  have  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  him,  and  if  possible  would  make  an  appointment  for  that 
or  the  succeeding  day.  Shaking  hands  and  tipping  his  hat  grace- 
fully he  would  leave;  but  he  was  always  sure  of  meeting  his  ap- 
pointments. 

"If  he  found  the  party  he  was  calling  on  willing  to  listen,  he 
would  introduce  me,  and  make  a  well-considered  statement  of  the 
benefits  of  advertising  in  general,  and  to  the  party  he  was  ad- 
dressing in  particular.  He  would  mention  parties  who  had  made 
fortunes  by  the  use  of  judicious  advertising.  He  would  show  how 
he  (the  merchant)  could  easily  double  his  business  and  profits 
by  a  like  course.  He  would  point  out  the  places  where  he  should 
advertise,  and  how  he  should  do  it.  He  would  generally  enforce 
his  words  by  some  well-told  stories,  and  get  all  parties  into  good 
humor  and  laughing  heartily.    He  would  end  up  by  asking  if  he 


a  j 

a  ! 
■J  . 


550 


APPENDIX  B 


might  be  permitted  to  make  out  an  estimate  for  the  merchant's 
advertisement. 

"He  would  say  he  would  charge  nothing  for  his  estimate  or 
setting-up  of  his  advertisement.  The  advertiser  would  be  under 
no  obligation  to  give  him  an  order.  If  he  did  not  like  it,  that  would 
be  the  end  of  it,  etc.  I  carried  a  list  of  the  towns  where  news 
papers  were  printed,  and  I  checked  off  such  towns  as  he  wanted, 
and  we  recommended,  and  I  would  then  go  to  the  office  and  pre 
pare  the  estimate.  The  next  day,  at  the  furthest,  I  would  bring 
it  to  the  advertiser,  and  we  generally  concluded  a  contract  whcm 
we  made  out  an  estimate.  .  .  . 

"He  would  sometimes  meet  with  men  who  said  that  they  be- 
lieved the  benefits  of  advertising  were  all  a  humbug,  and  that  tlie 
money  spent  for  it  was  thrown  away.  He  would  ask  such  m(3n 
if  they  had  ever  tried  it,  and  if,  as  in  one  case,  the  reply  was  '  Y€;s, 
I  once  spent  ten  dollars  that  way  and  I  never  received  a  dollar 
in  return,'  he  then  told  the  old  story  of  the  Indian  who  had  heard 
that  sleeping  on  feathers  made  a  bed  softer  and  more  comfortable, 
and  he  tried  it  by  buying  a  handful  of  feathers,  and  putting  them 
on  a  smooth  rock,  lay  down  on  them,  but  he  'didn't  rest  any 
better,  but  was  covered  with  the  blank  things  in  the  morning'— 
that  feathers  were  'no  good' — they  are  a  white  man's  humbug." 

Mr.  Palmer's  dealings  with  publishers  were  harsh  in  the  ex- 
treme. He  claimed  to  be  the  sole  representative  of  the  pap€:rs 
he  acted  for,  and  insisted  that  they  state  his  exclusive  agency 
at  the  head  of  their  editorial  columns,  which  many  of  them  did. 
He  charged  the  newspapers  for  postage  stamps  used,  the  losses 
he  incurred  through  advertisers'  failures  and  the  non-collecting 
of  bills.  In  his  early  years  as  an  agent  he  would  rarely  pay  any 
bill  rendered  until  he  had  collected  all  the  items  it  contained. 
He  not  only  demanded  a  commission  of  25  per  cent,  on  all  the 
advertisements  he  forwarded,  but  demanded  the  same  allowance 
upon  any  advertisement  that  might  be  forwarded  direct  by  one 
who  had  once  been  his  customer. 

Volney  B.  Palmer  commanded  considerable  respect  in  his  ds.y, 
but  he  has  been  dead— yes,  these  sixty  years. 

No  claim  is  made  that  we  have  run  down  the  very  first  adv(jr- 
tising  agent.  But  if  one  really  existed  before  the  days  of  Palmer, 
it  is  very  evident  that  he  was  not  much  of  an  advertising  man. — 

Ed.  Printers'  Ink. 

THE    END 


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